The Nine Songs of Rhiannon
by KatTheIndigoWolf
Summary: With the Grand Triskellion unsealed, magic has been restored to the world. However, with that comes new dangers that have been sealed away for eons have finally been reawakened. Akko and friends must stop these new threats with the help of the mysterious spirit Rhiannon. Join Akko and friends on a new journey as they discover new magical secrets, save the world, and fall in love.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

The moonlight cast its gentle light over the earth, acting as a silent guardian over the sleeping land below it. Soon, the moonlight traveled to a sleepy castle in the forests of England, though the lights coming from inside the castle's walls indicated signs of life. In one of the windows, the warm light from inside seemed to beckon the moonlight and greet it like an old friend. Within the room were three little witches, and one of them, Akko Kagari, stood proudly in the middle of the modest sized dorm room.

"I finally did it!" She crowed, "I actually flew!" she was ecstatic about the day's events, because nearly after months of trying, she had finally flown a broom.

"That's really great Akko!" Her roommate Lotte said from her bunk from where she was reading, "You really surprised everyone." Lotte continued, tilting her head to the side, smiling at Akko. The light in Akko's eyes grew brighter with her growing excitement as she beamed brilliantly at Lotte.

"Yeah! I even surprised Diana!" Akko said proudly, recalling that moment earlier in the day where the heiress had a shocked look on her face as Akko hovered in the air for the first time. It gave her a strange sense of satisfaction to surprise her rival turned friend, for reasons unknown to her. However, she was brought back to reality from the uninterested monotone of her other roommate, Sucy.

"Yeah, even if you were only six inches off the ground." Sucy snickered, not looking up from the beakers that she was using to mix some sort of terrible concoction.

"AT LEAST IT WAS PROGRESS!" Akko shouted, waving a fist in the air at the uninterested witch at the desk, who paid no heed to the threatening gestures behind her, which only frustrated Akko even more. The only recognition sent Akko's way was a simple "I know."

Meanwhile, across the castle in the observation tower, Professor Chariot sat quietly at her desk, writing in a worn looking leather-bound journal. The only light in the room was the candlelight at Chariot's desk, and the moonlight from the large window above bathed the rest of the room in its light.

_The Grand Triskellion has finally been unsealed._ Chariot wrote, dipping her quill into the ink pot beside her. _And magic has finally been restored to the world, bringing with it a new Golden Age. And better yet, Akko has finally managed to take flight for the first time today. She is well on the way to becoming a great witch, and I couldn't be prouder._ Chariot sat her quill down on the desk and let out a content sigh, shutting the journal, then turning toward her old crow familiar, Alcor. The sleepy bird looked up at his mistress who was smiling at him.

"It's been an interesting time these past few months hasn't it Alcor?" She said, and Alcor crowed in response. Chariot turned away from him, a smile of content on her face, as she took her glasses off, and set them down on her desk, bidding Alcor goodnight before extinguishing the candlelight, leaving only the light of the moon from the window in its place.

The moon kept its silent watch throughout the night, and soon it became the sole witness to an ancient song that had not been heard in a long time echo throughout the night. While all of Luna Nova's residents slept peacefully as the song continued its peaceful yet lonely melody, it was soon noticed in the room of the sleeping red team, as Akko turned in her sleep. But as she did, she slowly awoke from her slumber, and became another witness to the strange melody being sung in the night.

"You heard disembodied singing? No way!" Amanda scoffed as she slammed her breakfast tray onto the table that the red, blue, and green teams shared. They all stared in disbelief at Akko's retelling of the night before.

"It's true! It happened in the middle of the night last night!" Akko gestured wildly at the other end of the table, then she went silent for a moment, pondering something that seemed to barely occur to her, "I wonder if this school is haunted." Her random theory session was interrupted by the voice of the heiress sitting next to her at the head of the table.

"That would be very unlikely." Diana casually stated without missing a beat, causing Akko to whip her head around to stare at her, eyes wide in disbelief.

"HUH?" Akko couldn't believe what she was hearing, as Diana sat casually sipping her morning cup of tea, before she sat it back down before continuing her explanation to the bewildered witch.

"It's true Akko. In the long history Luna Nova has, there are no records of any deaths taking place here, or anywhere near the school grounds." Diana explained, leaving Akko in a very confused silence as she sat pondering Diana's words.

"Seriously?" Amanda spoke up as she leaned back in her chair, feet resting on the table, "You'd a thought something happened at least once."

"Well I'm glad this place isn't haunted," Barbra interrupted, crossing her arms, "I'd be paranoid that a ghost would be watching me all day."

"That could be arranged," Sucy chuckled, giving Barbra a very malicious looking grin, while doing so.

"Hold on a second!" Akko slammed her hands down on the table, causing everyone to jump at the sudden outburst, yet Akko's attention was only on Diana, "What about Vajorous, and the ghost I met at the blue moon? And Lotte can talk to spirits!" Akko knew that spirits indeed resided here, so it wouldn't have been that far-fetched that Luna Nova could have been haunted. Right? She looked expectantly at Diana who stared calmly back at her. Diana closed her eyes, and turned her head away from Akko.

"While I do admit that you have obviously encountered spirits here Akko, they were housed here for protective reasons," Diana started to explain, "And the spirits that Lotte speaks to are not human spirits. What you've heard last night could have been-"

"EXTRA! EXTRA!" a loud booming voice from across the cafeteria cut Diana's explanation short, as everyone in the vicinity looked to where the Luna Nova News Network, headed by a dancing Wangari was flinging newspapers throughout the room. "POSSIBLE WEREWOLF SIGHTING ON CAMPUS!" Wangari continued, as the curious students started to pick up the newspapers, that have been strewn about. "COULD IT BE ONE OF LUNA NOVA'S VERY OWN?" While most of the green, red and blue teams stood up to retrieve a copy of the newspaper, Diana remained in her seat, Akko standing near her a pondering look on her face.

"Werewolf?" Akko said, thinking that a werewolf sighting and mysterious singing had some connection, right?

"I highly doubt that there'd be a werewolf on the campus without the professors knowing." Diana stated, eyes closed and arms crossed. However, Akko's attention was turned toward Lotte and Sucy, the former starting to read the article as Akko peeked over her shoulder.

"For the past few nights some students have reported strange happenings, from strange howling noises, to seeing a looming animal like figure." Lotte read, Akko's eyes widening at the prospect, while Sucy remained indifferent, "Could this be a student with a furry secret?"

"Woah..." Akko half whispered, maybe there was a connection to the strange singing after all, though how to find out was to be figured out later.

"This chat is very fun and interesting guys, and I'd love to stay and figure out who the werewolf is, but I don't want to do it in detention again if we're late to class again." Amanda interrupted the group from their theorizing, giving a wave and exiting the cafeteria along with the rest of the green team and Hannah and Barbra.

"For once, I agree with O'neal," Diana said who was now standing, "We need to get to class, lest you wish to do the laundry again." And with that she walked off. Lotte and Sucy started to follow right behind Diana and the other teams, leaving Akko standing with the wheels in her head turning.

"I've got it!" Akko said, pounding a fist into her palm excitedly. Soon she had caught up to her friends. Seeing that Diana was up ahead of her, she decided to set her plan in motion. All she had to do was to ask Diana if she could join the night patrol with her, and maybe then she could find out about the mysterious singing.

"Diana!" Akko shouted, as she jogged up toward the blonde witch who turned to look at her curiously. The two continued to walk together after Akko had caught up to her.

"What is it Akko?" Diana asked, giving a sideways glance at the bubbly looking girl walking next to her.

"You help with the night patrols right?" Akko replied; this earned a raised eyebrow from Diana.

"On occasion." Diana answered, looking straight ahead, but the next statement stopped her dead in her tracks.

"Can I come with you?" Akko was more excited than usual, hands clasped together, and eyes bright. Diana was very confused now. Why did Akko want to come on a night patrol with her? She never wanted to before, so why was now any different.

"Whatever for?" Diana finally decided to ask, looking directly at Akko, who was now twiddling her fingers together, looking shyly away from her gaze.

"Well," Akko giggled nervously, "I kind of wanted to see if the rumors about the werewolf were true." She still refused to meet Diana's gaze, even though the other girl's gaze was not as stern, but it was a bit softer, albeit a little disappointed.

"Is that so?" Diana gently prodded, and Akko turned to finally meet Diana's gaze.

"Yeah." Akko answered, knowing by the look Diana was giving her that her plan wasn't going to work.

"I'm sorry Akko, but my answer is no." Diana said, as Akko hung her head, "Now we should get going." Diana let out a sigh, closing her eyes. She really felt bad for turning Akko down, but she pushed out the guilt and turned away from the girl, but as she opened her eyes, she was staring directly into two energetic crimson eyes. Diana stepped back in shock, as Akko was giving her the most convincing puppy dog eyes she had ever seen and invading her personal space.

"Please Diana!" Akko begged, making her eyes as sad and convincing as she could, "Can I come with you?" This was it, her target was flustered, and she was reeling her in. She turned the puppy eyes to the maximum.

"Uh..." was all Diana could muster, a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

"Please." Akko said sweetly, but to her surprise Diana just cleared her throat and straightened up, closing her eyes in an attempt to hide the rising red in her cheeks.

"I'm really sorry Akko, but my answer is still no." Diana managed to say, and immediately Akko slouched in frustration.

"Why?" she shouted, pouting that her tactics didn't even sway the other witch. What was this girl anyway, some kind of android sent to Luna Nova by a cyber corporation?

"If you asked me to go on night patrol because you wanted to take on some responsibility, then I would let you join me. However, that is not the case as you just want to investigate some childish rumor that isn't factual." Diana, continued as she started to walk away from the glaring brunette, "I can't allow that. Now if you'll excuse me, we have a class to go to." Akko watched her go, grumbling in anger and with a frustrated huff crossed her arms tightly over her chest.

"I'll show her." She mumbled.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Now, we will be moving on to the subject of familiars." Professor Finnelan's voice droned on as she slammed a thick tome onto the podium, catching the students who weren't paying attention off guard. It was secretly one of the professor's pass times, though she would never admit it. "Familiars and witches date back to when one of the Nine Olde Witches, Rhiannon, managed to discover the peculiar relationship between magic and animals. And with this information, she formed the first spiritual bonds with her familiar companions, whilst discovering that the familiar chooses the witch. Now if you turn to page three hundred and ninety-four..." Finnelan continued on, but not one single word was absorbed by Akko, who was stewing in her seat.

"I can't believe Diana wouldn't let me go on night patrol with her!" Akko fumed, staring straight ahead.

"I can't believe that you tried to flirt with her so that you could go on the night patrol with her." Sucy cackled, as the other witch immediately turned tomato red, and one could practically see the steam blow out of her ears as she turned to Sucy.

"I was not!" Akko shouted, earning a glare from Finnelan as well as a few curious looks from some of the other students. Akko immediately quieted down, turning away from Sucy as the lesson continued. Why would Sucy even say such a thing? She was only trying to convince Diana to take her on the night patrol, and if she had to act cute, then so be it. But the thoughts only made the blush on Akko's face grow redder than it already was.

"Maybe Diana's right." Lotte reasoned after a few minutes after the classroom was back to normal, pulling Akko out of her thoughts, "Maybe those werewolf rumors aren't true."

"But it might have something to deal with that singing I heard last night!" Akko said, gripping the sides of her head, before planting her face onto the desk with a grunt. She remained motionless for a few minutes until Sucy piped up:

"You could sneak out."

This earned an immediate reaction from Akko as she bolted upright, and turned toward her usually emotionless looking teammate.

"That's amazing Sucy!" Akko was bouncing in her seat at this point as Sucy was leaning away from her, as if her enthusiasm would rub off, "I should have thought of that before!"

"MISS KAGARI!" Akko immediately froze in her place, with an audible gulp, she stiffly turned toward a fuming Professor Finnelan. Akko giggled nervously, putting on a stiff smile in an attempt to ease the professor's boiling wrath before her.

"Yes professor?" She quietly, and politely said.

"If the conversation you're having is so important, you wouldn't mind sharing it with the rest of the class," Finnelan said curtly earning exaggerated shakes of the head from Akko, "Or we could get back to the lesson. Am I being clear Miss Kagari?"

"Yes mam." Akko said meekly, as all of the eyes in the class were upon her.

"Alright, now that's settled, we'll continue on to..." Finnelan started her droning, but Akko was lost in thought, plans of sneaking out after hours to find a werewolf filling her mind.

The moon was again a silent guardian over the land, its light filtering through the windows of the now empty hallways of Luna Nova. The only person out at this hour was Diana, as she made her nightly patrol. She walked the halls, senses alert to any disruption, moving her wand to light up any darkened corner from which any unidentified movement or sound caught her attention, but there would always be nothing there. She walked past an archway that was in junction to the hallways that led to the dorms. As she passed, three head poked out from their hiding place, making sure Diana rounded a corner before speaking.

"Okay," Akko whispered, "the coast is clear."

"Akko are you sure about this?" Lotte asked, looking up at Akko from her position on the floor.

"I'm positive!" Akko answered confidently, "What werewolf in their right mind would refuse a trip to the kitchens?"

"She's not wrong about that one." Sucy confirmed, for the first time not questioning Akko's logic. The trio made their way out of their hiding place, Akko taking point.

"Now," Akko whispered, "Let's go!" as they started sneaking their way toward the kitchens.

Diana continued walking down the halls, reaching the junction where her hallway would make lead her to the kitchens, and it was here that something was amiss. The sounds of scratching, clanking pots, and grunts were what raised her suspicions.

"What's this?" Diana questioned, raising her wand, the tip illuminating the hallway. She slowly approached the wall opposite her. "Scratch marks?"

There upon the wall were long marks left in the wood, as if some large animal had recently sharpened its claws on the walls. There were also claw impressions in the carpet running down the hallway, as if the animal's claws were snagged in the fibers every time it took a step. All of it led to the door of the kitchens, or what was left of it as it was busted down. And from the sounds coming from it meant that whatever this thing was, it was still there. Diana narrowed her eyes, brows furrowing, and with great caution making sure she didn't make any sound made her way to the remnants of the kitchen door. As she did so, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy had reached the same junction that Diana was at moments prior. They caught sight of the prodigy, and the mess of the kitchen door.

"What's she doing?" Akko whisper yelled to her teammates. While it was typical of Akko to go into situations like these headfirst, it wasn't typical of Diana, and the worry in the pit of Akko's stomach grew.

"Wow, Akko's actually thinking for once and not charging in headfirst." Sucy observed, earning a mild slap on the arm from Lotte. And the three witches continued watching Diana make her way toward the kitchen door. She was finally close enough to peer inside. Slowly raising the tip of her wand over what was left of the door, Diana peeked over the piece of the door she was hiding behind. Before her was a scene of total chaos; bags of potatoes strewn onto the floor, pots and pans knocked from their original places, cabinet doors ripped from their hinges, and in the middle of it all was a looming white animal that was almost as high as the ceiling. Luckily it didn't seem to notice her as it was digging through a barrel of apples. Diana recoiled in shock at the sight before her.

"The professors must be notified immediately!" Diana whispered hurriedly to herself, stepping back from the doorway as quickly and quietly as possible. In her haste however, she unknowingly stepped on some rubble that shifted under her weight, letting out a loud resounding crack in the empty hallway. Silence. Diana's heart leapt to her throat, as she let out a gasp, looking down at the offending rubble beneath her feet and back up to the large animal in the kitchen before her. The animal lifted its head up and with a low menacing growl, and as it turned toward her, she could see that the animal was the biggest polar bear that she ever seen. She was brought out of her paralyzed state by the mighty roar the bear produced.

"RUN DIANA!", The voice sounded vaguely familiar to the blonde witch but there was no time to figure out who it was, because she was obeying its command, and mustering all of her speed, she fled. The bear was still roaring, and the shaking hall around her and the booming rumble behind her indicated to her that the bear had vaulted over the remainder of the doorway and was coming after her. She was running blindly, the bear closing in on her, and soon she saw a familiar brunette figure, calling out her name, reaching out her hands and grabbing Diana's, yanking her around the corner. And they continued to run. The bear stumbled past the archway, giving the group a head start. Then Diana realized who her sudden savior was.

"Akko?" she said in a stunned voice, the brunette looking in her direction, and Dian was vaguely aware that she was still holding Akko's hand, "What are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you!" Came the reply, "Now come on! We gotta get out of here!" And Diana didn't object to that one bit. The sudden crashing sound and the return of the roaring behind them send a sudden wave of dread down the girls' back. The polar bear had regained his footing, and started his pursuit yet again. "Sucy! Do you have anything that could stop him?" Akko shouted to the girl in front of her. Sucy pulled something out from her vest pocket, and tossed it behind the group. The glass shattered on contact with the ground and the floor in front of the bear was turned into solid ice. Not prepared for the sudden change of terrain, the bear lost his footing and slid forward. Like a bowling ball heading down the alley towards waiting pins, the bear slid into the group of girls, pinning them to the ground. It was in that moment, they knew their end was near.

"Sucy! That didn't help at all!" Akko shouted.

"It was the only thing I had on me at the moment!" Sucy retorted, but the bickering between the two came to an abrupt halt as a looming shadow, caught their attention, and they were staring directly into the fierce gaze of the polar bear.

"We're done for." Lotte whispered, burying her face into Sucy's shoulder. Diana gripped Akko's hand tightly, and Akko could feel it shaking, yet as she looked at the prodigy, her face remained unmoved. _Even if she's going to die, she still puts on a brave face_ Akko thought to herself, and she herself braced for their impending doom.

"ARCAS!" came a very familiar voice, and soon the bear looked behind him, and the four girls peeked up, following his gaze. Standing in the middle of the hallway, hands on her hips, with fierce expression that could rival the flames of her fiery red hair, was none other than Professor Chariot herself. "What did I tell you about staying in the north end of the campus?" Her voice sounded as if she was scolding a child. Reluctantly, Arcas turned toward the woman, leaving the girls free to get up and brush themselves off. The four witches stood in stunned silence as they watched the scene unfold before them. Arcas looked like a pouting child as he grunted a response to Chariot. "I don't care if you were in the mood for a midnight snack! You can't just break into the kitchens in the middle of the night!" Another grunt followed, the bear pouting at the older witch, bottom lip protruding in a pout, "I would have known it was you anyway Arcas, don't bring them into this either," Chariot gestured to the group of students behind the bear, "You wouldn't have gotten away with it if they didn't even find you in there." Her gaze softened as Arcas lowered his head in shame, letting out a moan, and she stroked his broad head. She then turned her attention to the four students.

"I apologize for Arcas's actions girls. I hope he didn't scare you too bad, he can be quite cranky some days." She continued as she stroked his head.

"Wait," Akko started, "He belongs to you?"

"Yes Akko," Chariot giggled as her student looked between bear and witch dumbfounded, "I know you two have met before, but I haven't properly introduced you two yet. So, I guess now is the time. This is Arcas. Arcas these are my students; Akko, Lotte, Sucy, and Diana." Chariot gestured to each of them as she spoke their names.

"Uh, nice to meet you Arcas." Akko answered.

"It's… a pleasure." Diana followed. Sucy remained silent while Lotte remained huddled behind her.

"Please don't eat me." Lotte whispered, looking at the bear who seemed to have completely changed his personality from a hungry killer to a cuddly stuffed animal. Arcas gave a yawn in response, which seemed to calm the timid girl.

"Why don't we get you back to the north end of campus?" Chariot smiled as she ruffled the fur on Arcas's head, then turning her attention back to the girls, "I'd like for you all to accompany me, then we'll discuss why you all are out of your dorm rooms." Chariot motioned for the girls to follow her. As they started to follow, it was only then that Akko and Diana realized they were still holding hands. They immediately let go, avoiding each other's gaze a blush growing on both of their faces. They walked in silence for most of the way, and soon they were at the north end of the campus, and the group bid the large bear goodnight. As Arcas moseyed on into the ruins of building, Chariot turned to the group hands on her hips, a gesture that reminded Akko of her mother.

"Alright," Chariot eyes each of the girls individually, "Can any of you tell me why you were out of your rooms after hours?" Akko avoided her mentor's gaze, as Lotte and Sucy looked at Akko expectantly. Akko sighed and looked up at her mentor, and explained everything. Chariot widened her eyes, at the story, from the mysterious singing to the werewolf rumors.

"You put yourself in danger just to see if some rumors were true?" At Akko's nod of confirmation, the older woman sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose, "I know you don't want to hear this, but I'm your teacher and as your teacher I have to assign the punishment." The girls, apart from Diana lowered their heads, "As your punishment you have to feed Arcas for a week, that way he won't try to eat you the next time you come across each other." The girls nodded their heads and they started to head back to the main building. As they did so, a mysterious melody started to play, and everyone stopped and looked around for the source of the singing. Soon, they found the source, a mysterious glowing specter of a woman on a white horse. Her eyes were closed, long golden hair beneath her winged hat blowing in the wind, and a smile on her lips as she hummed the ancient melody. Three birds fluttered around her, joining in the haunting tune, as everyone stared entranced at the sight before them. When the woman was finished singing, she opened her eyes and regarded the audience before her, giving them a knowing smile before she vanished.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: Hello everyone! I hope you're enjoying this story so far! This chapter we get some Diakko interaction! Let me know what you guys think of this chapter and this story in general. Anyway, we will get on with the chapter.**

Chapter 3

"Alright girls, this should be enough to feed Arcas." Chariot said as she placed the final fish into one of the three buckets. The sun was just beginning to rise as the orange light started to enter Chariot's office from the large window. Akko yawned and attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes, but the attempts were futile. Lotte seemed to be a little chipper but was equally as tired. Sucy remained expressionless, but the aura around her seemed to be darker than usual. Chariot eyed the three girls in front of her with an amused expression on her face.

"Oh come on girls, it isn't that horrible," Chariot teased, "At least I didn't make you guys clean the troll's bathhouse, unless you want to do that instead." With that Akko straightened up quickly, all of the sleep that remained in her system was gone instantly.

"I'd rather feed Arcas!" Akko immediately responded. Cleaning the troll's bathhouse was the punishment that she disliked the most. Chariot chuckled at her student's sudden outburst.

"That's the spirit Akko!" Chariot encouraged, "For all three of you, this will be a good learning experience for you all. Since it's today that you'll be chosen by your familiars, some practice in caring for them would be beneficial." And with that the girls followed their professor to the edge of the North Campus where Arcas waited patiently for his breakfast. It was a little tedious at first, since the girls, with the exception of Sucy, were very timid when approaching the polar bear. As they were working on their task at hand, a sudden question came into Akko's mind.

"Professor Chariot?" Akko asked, as she looked over to her mentor, who turned her attention to her, "Did you find out anything about who we saw last night?" It had been bothering the young witch all night. She had finally found the source of the singing, yet with that she had more questions than answers. Who was this spirit? What was she doing there? Why was she there?

"I'm afraid I need to do a little more research on that," Chariot answered, Akko's face crestfallen at the news, "But don't fret, we'll find out eventually. Besides, you have something to look forward today. You'll get to meet a new furry or feathered friend." At the mention of this, Akko perked up.

"Yeah!" Akko said excitedly, "I wonder what my familiar is going to be. Maybe it'll be an owl, or maybe a cat-"

"Or maybe it'll be a toad." Sucy said, receiving a glare from Akko.

"What do you think your familiar will be Lotte?" Akko turned to face Lotte, who was currently holding up a fish to Arcas, who gladly took it.

"I'm not quite sure to be honest. I'm not really much of a cat person," Lotte answered picking up the empty bucket from the ground, "So I definitely know that it's not going to be a cat."

"You can't be quite sure of that Lotte," Chariot piped in, "After all, it's the familiar who chooses you, not the other way around." She reached out, stroking Arcas's fur, a nostalgic look in her eyes. After they were done with their task, the sun had risen over the horizon, and the girls departed to their dorm room to gather their supplies for the upcoming class.

"Yo, Akko!" Amanda slung her arm around Akko's neck, rubbing her knuckles violently against her head with her other hand as Akko struggled to free herself, "I heard you saw a ghost last night. And Sucy told me you were so scared!"

"I was not!" Akko finally managed to get free of the death grip and pushed Amanda away. They were on their way to the barn next to the greenhouse where the familiars were housed. "If anything, Sucy was the one who was scared the most." Akko crossed her arms over her chest.

"Who cares about who was the most scared!" Amanda reassured, "I wanna hear about the ghost."

"Well," Akko started remembering the night before, "I don't really know much about her. She had long blonde hair, she rode a white horse, and three birds were singing with her. She also had a hat with wings on it." Amanda nodded her head in acknowledgement, she didn't really know much either, but it was quite interesting to say the least.

"I don't know what to tell you Akko," Amanda said as they reached the door to the barn where most of the second years have gathered already, "Maybe we'll run into her again." They entered the barn, and to all of the students' surprise, it was completely empty.

"Everyone gather in the center." Came the voice of the professor, who Akko recalled was the one who taught the crow language class. The short, woman adjusted her glasses as the second years did as they were told. When everyone was settled in place, the professor began,

"As you are all aware, you will be chosen by your familiars today. As many of you are aware, familiars are bound to your soul, and they shall remain bound to you for the rest of their natural life. And once chosen, the witch and familiar will form a special bond that can never be broken."

"This is so exciting!" Akko was practically bouncing up and down in place, earning a stifled giggle from Lotte and an eyeroll from Sucy, even though the latter was excited herself.

"Now, when I call your name, step in the center her and your familiar will come through this portal." The professor continued. One by one students stepped up, and in a brilliant flash of light an animal would appear in front of the witch. A fox was summoned to Amanda, crows for Conztance and Jasminka, Toads for Hannah and Barbra, much to Akko's amusement, a pygmy owl for Lotte, and a bat for Sucy. When it was Diana's turn to be called up to have her familiar be summoned, the crowd whispered excitedly among themselves. Akko watched in eager silence, looking at the confident stance Diana always had when she was in front of a crowd. Her eyes were closed as if lost in thought. Her platinum blonde tresses shown in the sunlight that filtered through the hole in the roof top, giving her an otherworldly glow. Akko watched, entranced. Something started to stir within her, something she had never felt before. And soon a bright flash of light indicated the opening of the leyline, and the barn owl Diana owned fluttered down, resting on her shoulder. Diana stroked her bird lovingly a small unnoticeable smile forming on her lips, causing the warmth in Akko's chest to grow. Diana strode away from the center of the circle, everyone's gaze following her.

"Atsuko Kagari," the professor said, "you're next." Akko bounded forward eagerly, not knowing what to expect to come through. As she stood there, no portal opened up, and as she looked around, everyone began to whisper. The excitement she felt earlier ebbed away, and was replaced by knots of anxiety in her stomach and she ultimately hung her head as waves of disappointment cascaded over her. She looked around her, everyone in silence, but it was speaking volumes to her. Lotte gave her a sympathetic smile, Sucy remained emotionless except for the raised eyebrow, Amanda and the rest of the green team gave her a sad smile, and finally her eyes met Diana's. Diana's eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, yet her eyes looked worried and heartbroken for the girl in the center. Akko walked back to her place with her teammates, a heaviness in the air from the girl without a familiar.

The second years dispersed after the class was over, though Akko remained in her spot, head hung low, not meeting anyone's gaze. She waved Lotte and Sucy away, and the two shared a look, leaving the downhearted witch to herself. They would talk to her when she was ready, and they knew she needed to be alone right now. The barn was now empty, except for Akko, who sat down in the hay, knees clutched to her chest and head buried with them. She didn't acknowledge the rustle of the hay next to her as someone sat down beside her, and soon she felt the warmth of a gentle hand upon her shoulder.

"Akko," Diana said softly, "Are you alright?" but there was no response from the other girl. Diana paused, furrowing her brow, figuring out a way to proceed. Her gaze softened, and she looked ahead "I know you feel disappointed for what transpired here earlier," she glanced over at Akko, who remained unmoving, "However, it's happened to many witches in the past." Akko raised her head up, regarding Diana curiously and Diana noticed the fresh tear tracks down her face. She reached out and started wiping away the tears, a soft comforting smile upon her face as she did so, "If your familiar didn't appear today doesn't mean that you don't have one."

"You think so?" Akko sniffled as Diana pulled her into a hug. Akko relished the warmth she felt right now, even if it was only brief, she cherished it all the same.

"I know so," Diana reaffirmed breaking the hug, "It's the familiar who decides when to show them self in the end. So, don't worry about it right now, it'll happen when your familiar is ready." Diana stood up, hand held out to Akko, assisting her up.

"Thank you Diana," Akko said, looking away shyly, "For everything."

"You're welcome Akko," Diana said, softly smiling at the girl beside her, and with that they walked out of the building.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chariot grabbed yet another book off the shelf, flipping through the list of prominent witches through history, yet none were a match for the lady they had seen the night before. Frustrated, she closed the book, shelved back in its place, and repeated the process. After about the tenth time of doing this, she sighed in frustration, silently banging her head against the shelf.

"This is hopeless," she groaned to herself, she adjusted her glasses, shifting away from the bookcase, looking up to the many remaining books on the shelf towering over her. "Maybe I should try older texts." Her thoughts were cut short by the conversation Hannah and Barbra were having in the next aisle over.

"I can't believe we got toads as familiars." Hannah said, placing said toad into her book bag, "I mean what good is a toad for anyway?"

"At least we got familiars," Barbra retorted, "unlike Akko."

"Yeah, there wasn't even a portal with her." Hannah added, "Maybe it was a good thing Diana stayed with her, Akko looked pretty upset." Chariot listened intently from behind her bookcase, yet at those words she felt her heart drop.

"Oh Akko…" she whispered under her breath, she looked out the window to the sight of the setting sun, a beautiful sight that filled Chariot with melancholy. Then as if from nowhere a slight breeze in the library ruffled Chariot's hair, catching her attention as she followed the direction the breeze went as it blew open a stray book on one of the tables next to her. She walked up to the page and her eyes had widened to what she read.

Akko and Diana were walking along the edge of the forest that bordered the campus. Akko, not yet ready to go inside insisted that the two should go for a walk together.

"Who do you think we saw last night Diana?" Akko asked, running up to a nearby log to leap up onto it, holding her arms out to balance herself. Diana on the other hand, remained on the pathway, arms clasped behind her back as she continued walking in a dignified manner.

"I have been doing some research on the subject, but I haven't come to find any results I'm afraid." Diana responded, glancing at the frown that came over Akko's face. A ghost of a smile formed at the other girl's antics, "But don't worry, the answer to who we're trying to find might be in some older texts."

"You really think so?" Akko jumped down from the log, her eyes bright once again.

"Yes," Diana nodded, continuing walking ahead as Akko eagerly followed to catch up with her. The pair enjoyed the warmth of the evening sun, and soon they found themselves in a comfortable silence. In the distance they saw some of the other students enjoying the evening as well. Diana looked over to the girl beside her, searching for any signs of distress from earlier, and soon she found herself taking in every little detail of Akko's face, from the slight twitch of her nose as she got lost in thought, to the way her ponytail bobbed as she walked. She looked so carefree, so… happy. Diana wanted to just, reach out and run her fingers through that light brown hair, and bask in that warmth that was Akko. She shook her head, looking away from the other girl and straight ahead, a tinge of red dusting her cheeks. She silently thanked the stars above that the other girl didn't notice.

"Diana! Look!" Diana was brought out of her reverie as Akko tugged on her arm, wildly pointing at one of the trees ahead of them. Diana followed her finger and her eyes widened at the sight. A glowing blue phoenix was perched in the tree, regarding the pair curiously, but it wasn't any phoenix.

"It's one of the birds," Diana said astonished, "her birds." The phoenix opened its wings, and letting out an eagle like chirrup, it lifted off and flew into the forest.

"Let's follow it!" Akko shouted, taking off after the bird.

"Akko, wait!" Diana called after her, but it was already too late as Akko had already dashed into the forest. Grabbing her wand from her belt, Diana set off after her.

Akko kept the phoenix within her sight, though it became quite difficult as the undergrowth became thicker the farther she traveled into the forest's depths. It wasn't long before she lost sight of the phoenix completely, as she came into a clearing.

"Awwww man!" Akko bent forward leaning on her knees as she gasped for breath, "I lost him!" She looked around, she had gotten separated from Diana a while back, and the clearing looked unfamiliar to her. _I guess I lost myself too_ Akko thought. There wasn't any sign of the phoenix either, but something in the middle of the clearing caught her attention. Slowly she made her way toward the object, and she bent down to pick it up. It was a feather, a long dark feather that was a greyish brown color. It was as about as long as her arm. What ever owned this, was huge, and Akko didn't want to meet it.

"Diana!" Akko shouted, hoping to catch any sign of the heiress, "Diana where are you?"

A crackling in the trees caught Akko's attention as she suddenly looked up to the canopy. Instinctively she shrunk back toward the trees behind her, and she was met with a pair of glowing green eyes staring back at her.

"Silence!" the voice growled at her, "I've been traveling a long way, and I don't need an annoying little runt like you interrupting my sleep." There was a rush of movement and the figure landed in front of her. With the unfurling of the creature's wings as he folded his wings, the creature's body came into view. It was a wolf, a very annoyed looking one at that, and he was towering over Akko.

"I'm sorry!" Akko clasped her hands together, bowing in an attempt for forgiveness, "I got lost and I was searching for a friend of mine." She looked up, the wolf still staring at her and still very annoyed.

"If that were the case, you should have stayed with your friend, and not go wandering by yourself." He shook his head and looked away from the girl, a huff escaping him.

"I would have if I hadn't been chasing that phoenix!" Akko retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. The wolf pricked his ears up in interest at the words, and looked at Akko in surprise.

"Phoenix?" he asked.

"Yeah, a glowing blue one! What's it to ya?" Akko replied.

"It's just that, I've been following it as well." The wolf said, "I knew I could feel a pull that was bringing me here, but the phoenix made me follow it, and it brought me here."

"Woah… I wonder why it did that." Akko said awed by the wolf's words.

"That wand you have," the wolf gestured with his muzzle to Akko's belt, "You're a witch yes?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Well, the phoenix told me that the pull I felt will lead me to a witch, and I should follow it." The wolf explained, Akko's eyes widened and her arms fell limply to her sides.

"Are you," she whispered, "my familiar?" The wolf and the girl stared at each other, in stunned silence, and in that moment each of them felt the world fade away, and their souls intertwined in an unbroken pact, and Akko reached out and placed a hand on the wolf's muzzle.

"I'm Akko, what's your name?"

"Odin."

"Akko!" the moment was cut short by a shout from the surrounding trees and the wolf and the girl looked toward the commotion, "Where did she go?"

"Diana!" Akko shouted back excitedly, "Over here!" she was waving her hand excitedly and after a few seconds, a disheveled Diana Cavendish walked into the clearing. Her hair was filled with twigs, mud splattered her uniform, and there were a few tears in it as well. Diana looked up, eyes widened in shock but suddenly turned into protective fury as she brandished her wand at the sight of Odin.

"Foul beast step away from her now!" Diana whipped her wand back, a charge of pure energy crackling at the tip, but before she could release it into an offensive spell, Akko rushed into the line of fire, arms raised defensively.

"Don't do it Diana!" Akko shouted, bringing the other witch to a stop, "I won't let you hurt my familiar!"

"Familiar?" Diana sheathed her wand, and cautiously walked up to the pair in front of her, a quizzical look upon her face. She held her hand out to Odin, who in turn sniffed it.

"This is the friend you were searching for I presume." Odin said, looking to Akko for confirmation.

"Yep!" Akko beamed happily, "Odin this is Diana. Diana this is Odin, my familiar."

"It's a pleasure to meet your acquaintance," Diana said, bowing formally, "My sincerest apologies for almost hurting you with a spell."

"There is no need to apologize," Odin stated, "You were concerned about your packmate's safety, and you were going to take the proper actions to protect her."

"Ummmm, Diana," Akko said, rubbing the back of her head as the blonde turned her attention to her "what happened to you?" she gestured towards the disheveled state Diana currently found herself in. Diana only fixed her with a glare, which was the only answer Akko was getting, and she found herself looking away sheepishly while twiddling her fingers. "Anyways," she changed the topic away from an angry Diana, "it's getting late, and we should head back to the school. Maybe Odin here can give us a ride."

"It would be my pleasure." Odin bowed his head. Akko climbed on first, holding her hand out for Diana who took it and was pulled up behind Akko. At the signal that they were ready, Odin spread his wings and leaped into the air. The experience was a lot different from riding a broom, but still exhilarating nonetheless both girls found out as they returned to the main campus of Luna Nova.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone, welcome to a new chapter! As always I hope you enjoy reading this, and just for fun I hid a few classic rock music references in this chapter. There are three of them to be exact. Anyway, on with the chapter!**

Chapter 5

The hallways were abuzz with the news about Akko's familiar. As she Lotte and Sucy walked down the hallway to Professor Chariot's office, they earned curious glances. Odin was outside on the grounds, since he was too big to be in the building, and Akko planned to visit him later.

"I wonder what Professor Chariot wants to see us for." Lotte wondered aloud, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.

"Not sure," Sucy replied with a shrug, "Usually it's only Akko who is called into her office and that's only for the extra magic lessons."

"Well whatever it is, it must be important." Akko concluded. They continued up to Chariot's office, and after they reached the door, they were let in by Chariot, and to the trio's surprise, Diana was there too.

"You were called too?" Akko asked.

"That seems to be the case, yes." Diana answered, as the red team made their way to where she was seated. Chariot followed them, and once they were all settled, Chariot brought out the book she found at the library and began to speak.

"Alright, now that we are all here," Chariot turned to the page she had marked, "I have some information as to who we saw the other night."

"REALLY?" Akko was bouncing in her seat, "Who is it Professor?"

"Okay Akko, please settle down now." Chariot looked up at the excited witch, a small but nervous smile forming on her lips. Akko settled back into her seat, waiting eagerly. "Let's see," Chariot ran her finger to the correct place and began to read "_She is the bell that rings through the night, who ruled her life like a fine skylark upon the white horse that she rides. Sending out her three birds to do her bidding, she was the first witch to discover the bond of the familiar. She was a courageous sort, and her voice entranced many of those who she passed by, though she was one of the wisest of the Nine, she was nomadic at heart. She was the witch known as Rhiannon." _Chariot looked up to the students, who were all silent.

"This is who we saw the other night?" Akko asked, tilting her head like a confused puppy. Chariot nodded in confirmation.

"The one in the same." Chariot said, "Though as to why she appeared to us is a different matter at hand."

"Maybe we can find her again!" Akko jumped up, bound and determined to search for the answers. Diana reached up a hand and tugged on Akko's arm, bringing her back to her chair.

"Akko," Lotte started, "It's not that simple."

"Why? You can talk to spirits Lotte, so we could find Rhiannon's using your song." Akko reasoned, and while she did Sucy facepalmed and Dina pinched the bridge of her nose.

"That's only for spirits of objects Akko, human spirits come and go as they please. They can't necessarily be summoned by my song." Lotte explained, Akko slumping in disappointment.

"We just have to be patient Akko," Chariot said, "She might appear again."

"And it would be unwise to go searching for something that we know little about, as well as not knowing where to look." Diana stated.

"Maybe we can do some research then." There was a collective gasp at the words that came out of Akko's mouth.

"Lotte pinch me, I must be dreaming." Sucy said. The group's eyes followed Akko as she stood up to address them.

"If we split up into different groups, then we could find out a lot more." Akko started, then she pointed to Lotte, "Lotte, you and I can research possible objects that Rhiannon could have owned, and maybe there would be one here on campus and maybe we can talk to the spirit residing in it. Diana, you can research some more history about Rhiannon and Sucy can help you." Unnoticed by Akko, Sucy gave a frown at that, and Diana seemed to have a look of disappointment though it was subtle.

"I'll do my best to help you girls out as well," Chariot said, "Since she is one of the Nine Olde Witches, her appearance means something very important."

"Alright! Let's get to researching!" Akko proclaimed, and the girls left Chariot's office towards the library. As they walked down the hall, a thought seemed to cross Diana's mind as her face changed from her normal stoic expression. Her eyes widened slightly, and she raised her eyebrows.

"I just remembered something," she finally spoke up and everyone turned to her expectantly, "When I was researching the Grand Triskelion, there was a book in the archive on campus on the Nine Olde Witches. We can request access to it from Headmistress Holbrooke, and it could have the information we need."

"That's a good idea Diana." Lotte said, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, we could head over to the Headmistress's office right now too." Akko suggested.

"Here comes Amanda and the rest of the green and blue teams." Sucy interrupted, and sure enough the green team along with Hannah and Barbra were walking towards them. Amanda and Hannah were gesticulating wildly, while the other three girls were shaking their heads in exasperation at the quarreling girls. When they got within ear range of the red team and Diana, they seemed to stop.

"Oh, hey guys." Amanda acknowledged giving them her signature smirk.

"There seems to be a problem here," Diana gestured to the two girls who were arguing a few seconds ago. She was straight to the point as always. "Might you two care to explain?"

Amanda and Hannah gave each other a side glare, Amanda with one hand lazily on her hip while Hannah had her arms crossed tight over her chest. Hannah then looked away from the fiery red head with her nose stuck up in the air, but she was the first to speak.

"I was just lecturing her on how she is always doing those stupid stunts on her broom, and she could really injure herself if she messed up. And she almost did today too." At her words, Amanda gritted her teeth, clenching both of her hands into fists.

"It was a standard free fall!" Amanda retorted pointing a finger roughly into Hannah's arm. The other girl turned to face Amanda, both of their foreheads rubbing against the other like a pair of fighting bulls.

"If you weren't singing the chorus to 'Free Fallin' during it then you wouldn't have almost crashed into Avery!" Hannah yelled back. Everyone watched the exchange in stunned silence.

"Avery wasn't paying attention!"

"Well you should-"

"GUYS!" Akko shouted, getting between the two and pushing them apart, "We have bigger things to worry about and we're going to need your help!" Amanda shared one last glare with Hannah before fully turning her attention toward Akko.

"What do you need our help with?" Amanda asked, her posture was more relaxed now, and she had a look of curiosity on her face.

"We found out who the ghost is and we need your help with researching." Akko stated.

"That's really cool Akko," Amanda said giving the brunette a fist bump, "we'll gladly help you with the research, won't we guys." She turned toward Jasminka and Constanze who nodded in agreement.

"We have to go to the headmistress's office first though, Diana said that the book we need has to have access requested for it." Akko explained as the group continued down the hallway.

"Yes, the book in question is in the school archives and there are other historical objects housed within there as well." Diana explained further, "Which is why access has to be requested as many of those relics are very rare and fragile."

"I wonder if that's where they keep those samples of those long extinct mushroom species. I might finally get my hands on them." Sucy mused, earning an elbow to the side from Lotte, who had a look of disapproval upon her face. Sucy heaved a sigh and rolled her visible eye. They reached their destination and Diana took the lead, knocking on the door.

"Come in." came the welcoming voice of the headmistress. Diana opened the door, revealing Headmistress Holbrooke and Professor Finnelan in the middle of a deep discussion.

"Oh my, we have quite a few visitors today," the old headmistress said with a smile on her face, though Finnelan eyed them suspiciously "What brings you to my office?"

"We need access to the archives Headmistress," Diana said, her head bowed respectively, "We are doing some research on the Nine Olde Witches and I know of a book that I have done some research on them that's in the archives." As she spoke, Akko looked around the room, noticing behind the desk Holbrooke was sitting at there were nine stands that had nine bronze statues of witches' hats on them. One of them on the right side of the display had caught her eye, a pointed hat with wings on either side._ It's hers_, Akko thought. She was jolted out of her thoughts by Diana thanking the headmistress and the group had left the office.

They found themselves standing at the archive building, brooms in hand. As the door to the building unsealed itself by Diana's wand, the other girls looked on in amazement, waiting to see what mysteries lie inside. They followed Diana inside, marveling at the large pillar of objects rising in the center.

"Woah," Akko breathed out, "This place is amazing." She had never seen so many magical objects within one place, as she took a few steps forward, examining some of the objects in some of the compartments. There was an old crystal ball, tarot cards, and a broken wand among other things. A few of the other girls took to searching the eye level of the archives as well. At one point, Lotte was pulling Sucy back from trying to take one of the rare mushroom samples. Constanze, Amanda and Jasminka were looking at an old piece of magitronic machinery, while Hannah and Barbra were looking at something on the other side of the room. Akko was pulled out of her musings of looking at the objects before her, as Diana walked up to her, her expression unreadable.

"The book is somewhere up in the higher levels," she pointed up toward the pillar, Akko following her gaze, then returning to the blonde, "Would you like to help me look for it? It seems that everyone else is busy with other matters." There it was again, that strange warmth in her chest again when she looked at Diana. Her heart started to race, though she wasn't running.

"Uh, yeah sure." Akko said rubbing the back of her neck, "I can." Diana gave her a soft smile, that caused the thundering and fluttering in Akko's chest to increase tenfold. Though Akko could now fly, she could still only hover a few inches off the ground, so she found herself on the back of Diana's broom gently lifting off the ground. Slowly, they made their way up the pillar, scanning the objects in the compartments. Soon, Akko noticed an old looking leather bound book connected to the shelf it sat on by a chain.

"Is that it?" She pointed toward the book, and Diana directed the broom to be closer to the shelf. A satisfied smile made its way to Diana's face as she picked it up, the chain disintegrating as she did so.

"Yes, this is it." Diana replied opening it gingerly, and she started to carefully flip through the pages. As she did so, Akko looked around her. _There is so much stuff in here_, she thought, _I wonder what the story behind all of these things are._

"Hey Diana," Akko said, turning her attention to the blonde in front of her.

"Hm?" Diana hummed in response, signaling to the brunette that she was listening.

"Do you think that something from each of the Nine Olde Witches could be housed in here, maybe like their hat or a cloak they wore?" Akko asked, watching as Diana raised her head up from the text, though Akko couldn't see her face, she knew that she was in a thoughtful silence.

"Though I can't say for the other eight, I know that there is nothing that I know of that belonged to my ancestor Beatrix in this archive," Diana said after a while, "Though she could have left something behind here to preserve her place in history here at Luna Nova."

"But it is possible right?" Akko asked.

"Yes."

"Maybe on the way down we can scan the stuff to see if anything looks like it could have been owned by Rhiannon." Akko suggested, her eagerness was starting to rise again.

"Though that would be a very good idea Akko, we have no idea what she could have left behind here. We can come back when we do some more research." Diana said, they slowly started making their way back down to the ground level where everyone else was still searching. Akko slouched against Diana's back in disappointment, and she shifted her gaze toward the shelves of objects once again. Then as they started to pass another shelf, something familiar caught Akko's attention and she bolted straight up in excitement.

"Hang on a second Diana!" Akko said excitedly, Diana did as she was told and turned her head back toward her unruly passenger.

"What is it Akko?" She asked.

"Go back up two rows." Though Akko couldn't see Diana's confused look, she obliged, and she floated back up the two rows that they had just passed.

"Look!" she heard the excited girl behind her and doing so she turned and her eyes widened by the sight before them.

"This was hers…" Diana whispered, mesmerized by the object, while Akko had a huge grin on her face. Before them was an old witch's hat, an old and faded brown color and the hat's brim was slightly tattered with age, it was embellished with a bronze seal on it that had what Akko could guess wavy lines that resembled the wind. But what struck the deal was the wings of a white winged dove attached to the seal on both sides. It was the same hat that was in the Headmistress's office, it was the hat that belonged to Rhiannon.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"Are you ready Lotte?" Akko asked.

"Uh, yeah I think so." Lotte replied quietly. They were all gathered around the hat Akko held gingerly in her stretched out arms. Lotte started to sing her spirit summoning song, and a little glowing orb with wing shapes on each side of its head manifested. It regarded the group curiously, then returned its gaze back to Lotte, "Hi there, we were curious about your owner, could you tell us about her?" The spirit answered in that strange whispery language that Akko still couldn't understand that well, but by Lotte's pleased expression, some useful information was being relayed to her. With a final respectful thanks from Lotte, the spirit retreated back into the hat once again.

"What'd it say Lotte?" Akko asked eagerly.

"Well, it said that after the founding of Luna Nova, she left the hat here for the reason of historical purposes," Lotte explained, "With her vast wisdom of magic and her nomadic nature, many people had considered her to be a goddess, or at least related to one. She was also known for her kindness and generosity towards those that were less fortunate than others, and sometimes she would carry people who couldn't walk upon her back to a safe destination."

"Sounds like she was some sort of saint," Amanda mused, but was whacked in the stomach by an unamused Hannah, "Come on! I was just joking, sheesh."

"Did it say anything about where she liked to spend her time?" Akko continued, ignoring Amanda's remark.

"It said that she particularly liked to spend her time where she could feel the wind." Lotte continued, "That's all it had to say."

"That wasn't very helpful at all." Akko slumped, a grumpy frown occupying her face.

"Well, if it's any consolation, that rules out forest areas." Diana offered, she took the hat from Akko, and with a flick of her wand, the hat returned to its place back on the shelf.

"Maybe that hill by the north campus can be a starting point." Sucy suggested as she attempted to stuff her pockets in a discrete manner.

"The wind is the strongest there," Amanda agreed, "It is one of the best places for flying."

"Perfect spot." Constanze's Stanbot voiced as the short witch gave a nod.

"Let's go then!" Akko gestured toward the door, as she started bounding towards it.

"But first," Diana said facing Sucy, thrusting an open palm toward her, "Miss Manbavaran, I believe that you need to return something to its rightful place." Sucy tried to feign ignorance, keeping up her emotionless façade in front of the others.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She avoided Diana's stern gaze.

"The sample of extinct mushroom you were attempting to sneak out of here," Diana continued, "Please return it right now."

"And if I don't?" Sucy wasn't backing down, and everyone was watching the exchange. They knew that when it came to mushrooms, Sucy could be unyielding and nothing could get between her and her mushrooms.

"You will have to do the entire campus's laundry," Diana stated, her face like a poker player, "by yourself, with no magic."

"You think you can do better than that?" Sucy smirked, "That's nothing." But Diana wasn't done yet, she had one more card up her sleeve.

"On top of all that, your mushroom garden you keep in your dorm room will be confiscated and destroyed." Diana was the one smirking now, and though everyone at that last statement was in shocked silence Sucy was taken back most of all. Her eyes were the widest Akko had ever seen, and she was a sputtering mess.

"You wouldn't dare!" Sucy growled, baring her pointed teeth at the smirking heiress.

"Hand over what you stole, and none of your mushrooms will get hurt." Diana retorted, still holding out her hand, waiting for Sucy to hand over the contraband. With one last sigh, and a roll of her eyes, Sucy reached into her pocket and placed the stolen mushroom in Diana's hand. Diana immediately sent the mushroom back to its proper place with a wave of her wand.

"You are such a killjoy." Sucy grumbled, sending a glare to Diana.

"Wow Cavendish, I didn't know you had it in you!" Amanda smirked; Diana only rolled her eyes in response. She sheathed her wand and flipped her hair and walked in the direction of the door. The group watched her go, still in stunned silence. Diana turned around; her eyes narrowed as she heaved a sigh.

"Are you coming, or are you just going to stay in there?" She finally said, breaking the group from their collective reverie.

"Yeah, yeah whatever," Sucy replied slinking out of the archive door followed by the rest of the group. They headed toward the north end of the campus, where they would start their research. There was a flutter of wings and a slight breeze generated by Odin as he swooped in to land by the group.

"Hi Odin," Akko greeted the wolf with a pat on his shoulder.

"Hello Mistress," Odin replied, then he tilted his head, "Are you and the rest of your pack going on a hunt?"

"Well, you could say that I guess," Akko pondered, "but it's not a hunt for food though."

"What are you hunting for?" Odin questioned; they were almost to the base of the hill.

"A spirit of a witch named Rhiannon." Odin hummed in response to that. As they started to climb up the hill, and the wind started to pick up. Suddenly there was the sing song of birds, however this wasn't normal birdsong, it was a strange birdsong, one that suddenly sounded like a lullaby of a mother singing to her scared child on a stormy night. And all of the witches suddenly felt sleepy, wishing to take a nap. They looked overhead to see three colorful phoenix birds, one blue, one red, and one golden flying towards the top of the hill. As they disappeared from view, the beautiful sound of singing started to float on the wind.

"_Traveling through the fog of life,_

_Traveling oh so long,_

_Thy soul is weary and thy heart is bared_

_For searching for answers thou seeks_

_One must be prepared._

_A wolf in chains forever bound_

_By magic that bids it eternal sleep."_

Akko had bound up to the top of the hill, and there upon her pale horse, sat Rhiannon, holding out a hand that the red phoenix perched upon.

"It's you!" Akko exclaimed, a bright sun of a smile on her face, the rest of the group cresting the hill behind her, staring at the specter in shock. Rhiannon gave them a glance in their direction, then she lifted her phoenix into the air, and turned her horse around and started to trot away at an amiable pace, the birds fluttering along behind her. Akko's eyes fired up in anger, her face boiling red.

"Hey!" she shouted, climbing up onto Odin's back, "Get back here!" She followed after the spirit, sending Odin galloping at a steady pace.

"Akko!" Diana shouted as she and the rest of the girls mounted their brooms, "You can't just yell at one of the Nine Olde Witches like that! It's utterly disrespectful! _Tia Freyre_!" Akko didn't pay her any heed, as her focus was on the witch before her, still a long way ahead trotting at a leisurely pace.

"Come on Odin," Akko coaxed the winged wolf, "We need to catch her."

"If I take flight, I will probably be able to catch up." Odin responded, and Akko repositioned herself to accommodate the mobility of the wolf's wings. Odin spread his wings, and with a few flaps he took to the air. Diana and the rest of the girls had managed to catch up with Akko and Odin. Rhiannon was still up ahead of them, trotting her horse leisurely, while her pursuers were flying at top speeds just to keep up with her.

"We just want to talk to you!" Akko shouted, the wind whipping the words out of her mouth getting lost in the breeze.

"Please Lady Rhiannon!" Diana shouted in an attempt to be more civil than Akko had been, "May we speak with you?" And suddenly, horse and rider slowed to a halt, and she turned to face the group of witches who landed in front of her. Rhiannon regarded the girls with an unreadable expression in her eyes.

"Greetings young ones," Rhiannon finally spoke, her voice deep yet airy and echoing, "Thanks to you magic has finally been restored to the world with the unsealing of the Grand Triskelion. But now, I have a task to request of you."

"A task?" Akko asked, tilting her head.

"Aww man," Sucy muttered, "I thought we were done with all of this."

"Sucy!" Lotte scolded the gloomy girl next to her.

"Yes, an important task is at hand, for the future of magic, and for the world as we know it." Rhiannon confirmed with a nod of her head. Suddenly a golden glow emitted in the middle of the group, bathing them in a warm light. It concentrated itself in a ball in front of Jasminka, then with a flourish of golden and green sparks, a nine stringed harp in the shape of a horseshoe manifested in front of the pink haired girl. Everyone watched, as she adjusted her grip on her chip bag and carefully took the harp in her hands. Then the girls turned back to Rhiannon, bewilderment filling their faces as they waited for the spirit to continue. The blue and golden phoenixes landed on her shoulders, and she stroked each of them lovingly, then she focused her attention back on the group, "With the Grand Triskelion unsealed, magic is flowing as strong as it had before magic had started to fade. But with that comes dangers that have long been sealed away lying dormant, only to start reawakening once again."

"What are we going to do?" Hannah said, exchanging a frightened look with Barbra clutching their hands together.

"You have been bestowed with a powerful artifact to help you," Rhiannon gestured to the harp in Jasminka's hands, "You have to discover them for yourselves, however each of you who were present at the unsealing of the Grand Triskelion will be granted the task of unsealing the power of one of nine different songs. Once the witch who was chosen by the harp unseals her song, it will present itself to the next witch in line."

"So it's like the seven words?" Akko asked curiously.

"Yes," Rhiannon replied, "But while the Seven Words of Arcturus were created to revive magic, I created these songs in order to make sure it stayed safe. Once the right moment comes, the song will flow through you and it will activate. And with that, I must take my leave." Rhiannon turned her horse away from the group and started to ride away, but before she could get very far Akko called out to her once again.

"Wait! How are we going to know the words to the songs though?" Rhiannon turned back to the group, and before she vanished, she answered,

"You already have them in that book you possess! And I will be guiding you every step of the way!" and she was gone again, a slight breeze and a phoenix feather were the only traces of her that remained.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Alright, that's the last one." Chariot stretched up onto her tip toes, shelving away one last book in the library. She swiped some sweat off of her brow, then shifted her glasses back into their proper place, a satisfied smile on her face. The moment was short lived, when the doors to the library slammed open.

"Professor Chariot!" Akko shouted, earning a glare from the librarian. Chariot turned in surprise to see not only Akko, but the rest of the red team, the blue team, and the green team.

"Huh?" was all that Chariot could say.

"So you met Rhiannon then." Chariot had finished pouring one last cup of tea, and handed it to Barbra, while Akko nodded in confirmation. They all found themselves back in Chariot's office, where they decided that would be a good place where they wouldn't be disturbed.

"Yes, we did," Diana spoke, "though what she told us is quite concerning." Diana took a sip of her tea.

"Yeah, it was something like keeping magic safe and stuff reawakening." Akko added, and a dark look crossed Chariot's face at that.

"I see," she then gestured to the harp in Jasminka's hands. Jasminka sat between Amanda and Constanze on the base of the stairs, "And it has to be done by using this harp to unseal nine different songs?" She was a little perplexed by this. Woodward had never mentioned things like this before when she attempted to revive the seven words before Akko had.

"She said the ones who were present at the unsealing of the Grand Triskelion had to do it." Lotte said.

"I guess that rules me and Barb out." Hannah said from her place by the door.

"Yeah, we weren't there when that happened." Barbra finished. Chariot turned away from the girls, looking at her framed picture of the Seven Words, a thoughtful yet distant look in her eyes.

"Everyone that was present huh?" She said quietly. Akko shared a look of concern with Lotte, Sucy and Diana.

"Umm… professor, is something wrong?" Akko asked, jolting Chariot out of her thoughts, she looked over at the girls and she cleared her throat.

"Oh, uh it's nothing girls," Chariot's eyes became obscured by her glasses, but with a final cough she began again, "So, let's talk about the first song then."

"Well, she said that the songs are here in this book." Diana walked up to Chariot, presenting the book from the archive. Chariot took the book from Diana and started looking through the book. Everyone decided to come closer to get a better look.

"Alright," Chariot started to flip through the pages, "they seem to be closer to the back. Ah, here we are." The page she turned to had nine different stanzas written in Lunar Runes. Though she was learning how to read the Lunar Runes in magic linguistics, Akko still had trouble deciphering them.

"What does it say?" Akko asked.

"Well the first song says:

_Come with me,_

_Rest thy weary soul,_

_And Sadness shall find you no more."_ Chariot translated, and she turned to Jasminka, "this is the song that you need to unseal I believe. If they are anything like the Words of Arcturus they will have to be done in order."

"But I don't know how to sing." Jasminka whispered as she looked down at the harp that was still in her hands.

"Hey that's alright Jas," Amanda slapped a hand across the distressed girl's back, "she said that the music just has to flow through you, so I guess it doesn't matter if you have to sing good." Her reasoning seemed to calm Jasminka and she gave a relieved sigh. Then the globe on Chariot's desk started to ring, causing everyone in the vicinity to jump a little at the loud trilling. Chariot immediately answered it, but before she could get a word in Professor Babcock was already babbling.

"Professor Chariot!" The light blue hair woman screeched, "We have a staff meeting to start!" As abruptly as the call started, it ended, leaving behind an awkward silence. Chariot heaved a sigh, rubbing her forehead in exasperation.

"I'm really sorry for having to cut this meeting short girls." Chariot said as she started to stand up, "But this is a mandatory staff meeting I have to attend." She showed the girls out of her office before exiting it herself after them.

_The sun rose over the Welsh country side signaling the start of a new day. In a giant tree house overlooking the little valley it resided in, Rhiannon stood on her balcony. The wind gently blew through her hair, she listened to the secrets it seemed to whisper to her. Harp in hand, she played a simple five note tune. The sun shone brightly on her red robes, brilliantly as her red phoenix, glowing like a warm welcoming fire. She watched as the band of travelers rode up to her door at the base of her tree. They were warriors as far as she could tell, ragged and weary from days of travel, their clothes ripped in some areas, exposing fresh wounds. She teleported down to the base, and she opened the door cautiously._

_ "__Explain yourselves." She said to them. Though she let them into her parlor, she eyed them suspiciously. All three phoenixes were watching their every move from their spot in the rafters. They were warriors, yet their leader was a prince, wishing to marry the daughter of the Giant King. Set about to complete impossible tasks set by the Giant King, they found themselves at Rhiannon's door, wanting to take her birds with them. They told her they were to sing the Giant King to sleep before the night of his daughter's wedding day. _

_There were rumors Rhiannon knew. Rumors about the tyrant of a Giant King who was cursed to die after his daughter's wedding. She looked up to her birds, if this was the case, their song might be a possible way to soothe his soul. She looked back to the harp in her hands, and a small smile formed on her lips._

_ "__If it's the song of my birds that he seeks, then he shall get the most beautiful song there is." Rhiannon gripped her harp, as she started to play the simple five note tune once again. She beckoned the birds over to her, and she started to play the song and she began to sing:_

_"__Come with me,_

_Rest thy weary soul,_

_And Sadness shall find you no more."_

_The birds repeated the tune in their haunting chirrups of song. The warriors stood entranced, as the harp started to glow, threads of light flowing from the harp to the phoenixes' chests, causing them to glow in a gentle fire like light that bathed the entire room. The warriors' strength was renewed, their tattered clothing repaired, and they were no longer there at the tree house as the light faded away. They were in the court of the Giant King himself. He was a fearsome tyrant, glowering down at them, from his throne. His beard was tattered, his clawed hands gripped the arm rests of the stone throne, cracking and crumbling the rock in the process, his eyes were glowing red, and his teeth were razors as he lifted his upper lip in a snarl. His breathing was labored and shallow, his eyes unfocused, and he let out a throaty growl at the group of warriors. He drew closer to the band and started to reach out his hand to the warriors as if they were a dangerous insect that needed to be squished. But suddenly, his attention was drawn away from the warriors as the sound of a harp started playing and his attention was drawn toward Rhiannon and the phoenixes. The Giant King tilted his head in confusion, as the same song Rhiannon sang previously started to play. As the song went on, golden threads gently wrapped themselves around the giant, like a warm blanket. The Giant King fell asleep peacefully in his throne, his body turning to stone, as the red waves of anger that radiated from his soul through his eyes returned to a normal blue, before they permanently shut, and a smile replaced the scowl on his face. _

Jasminka bolted out of her sleep, she was breathing heavily, and as she looked around her dorm room, she saw that all was peaceful, and Amanda and Constanze weren't disturbed by the sudden jolt of the pink haired girl. They were still sound asleep, completely unaware of what took place. Jasminka turned onto her side and let out a sigh and she started to settle back into bed. But as she closed her eyes, she noticed that something was different about the room, and when she opened up her eyes, her gaze wandered to the desk where the harp rested. And Jasminka noticed, it was glowing.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

"I can't be late to breakfast again." Akko muttered to herself, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes as she wandered down the hallway to the cafeteria. Lotte and Sucy had left earlier as Akko was scrambling to get ready for the day. Even though it was Saturday, Akko did not like being late for a meal, and she didn't like picking up what was left over after everyone else got their choice of the food. Akko reached the cafeteria doors and opened them with a slight shove. She caught sight of the blue and green teams sitting in their usual place with Lotte and Sucy. Akko made her way to the breakfast line before returning to the groups. As she sat down, she saw that everyone was looking at Jasminka with a silent concern. Akko noticed the girl was eating like how she usually was, but something was off. It was more desperate, more ravenous as she gulped down plate after plate jamming the food into her mouth as fast as she could chew. Akko leaned over to Lotte, who was to Akko's left eyeing the pink haired girl.

"Lotte," Akko whispered getting her roommate's attention, "What's going on? Jasminka isn't normally like this." Lotte turned to face Akko, concern and confusion in her sky blue eyes.

"We don't know either," Lotte answered, "Amanda said when she woke up, all of Jasminka's snack supply was completely eaten through." They turned back to the witch in question, who continued shoveling down the food as fast as she could put it in her mouth.

"It…keeps…wanting…more…" Jasminka said in between bites, tears were starting to stream down her face. In that instant, everyone's eyes widened and looks were exchanged amongst each other.

"Is she taking about-" Akko started,

"The demon in her stomach." Amanda finished.

"What are we going to do?" Lotte said frantically, "She can't go on like this."

"This can't be a coincidence." Everyone turned to look at Diana, who had her chin resting between her thumb and forefinger in thought.

"What do you mean Diana?" Barbra asked, looking from Jasminka to Diana and back.

"First we restored magic, then we get a task from one of the Nine Olde Witches to seal away threats that are growing with the resurgence of magic, and after that the demon that resides in Jasminka's stomach is demanding more energy from its host." Diana listed off, "It can't be any coincidence that this is happening. That demon is growing more powerful, and if we don't do something soon Jasminka won't be able to handle it much longer." Everyone looked over to Jasminka, worry in their eyes.

"Jas said that the harp was glowing last night," Amanda said, "could it be of any use?"

"It could, but since Jasminka has to be the one to unseal this particular song, we are going to need to neutralize it first in order for her to sing the song." Diana reasoned.

"I can brew up something that will put the demon to sleep." Sucy offered, "Though it could put Jasminka to sleep as well."

"But what if she can't use the song to get rid of it?" Akko asked, and everyone turned to her, faces filled with surprise and skepticism, "If it's like the Shiny Rod, it can only be activated when Jasminka needs to feel the meaning of the song in her heart." The group exchanged glances, knowing full well that they forgot that particular catch.

"Nevertheless," Diana interjected, "We can still brew the potion to make the demon sleep. When we do put it to sleep, we can go forward with figuring out how to get the demon out of Jasminka's stomach."

"That sounds like a plan." Amanda agreed, Constanze gave a nod and a thumbs up.

"Alright, we're going to need to split up in order to do this," Akko said, stepping forward to take charge, "Amanda and Conztance you two need to stay with Jasminka."

"Aye aye captain." Amanda smirked giving a salute to the Japanese girl.

"Sucy, you get started on the potion." Akko continued, pointing at the mauve haired girl.

"I'm going to need a few ingredients first." Sucy replied.

"Alright make the list and me, Lotte and Diana can get them." Before she could continue, Hannah and Barbra piped in.

"What are we going to do Akko?" Hannah asked, examining her nails.

"Yeah, what's our job?" Barbra added, curiously looking at the brunette curiously.

"Well," Akko glanced up at the ceiling in thought, then her eyes widened in realization, then she turned her attention back to the pair, "You two can replenish Jasminka's snack supply. Since it's going to be a while before the potion is ready, we need to get her all the snacks she could need." The girls split up going in their separate ways. Akko, Lotte and Diana followed Sucy to the red team's dorm room. They entered, and Sucy immediately went to her desk and grabbed a notepad and started jotting the list down. Lotte took a seat on Sucy's bed, as Akko sat down in her bottom bunk. She patted the space next to her, inviting Diana to take a seat next to her. Diana sat down gracefully, she smoothed her skirt down, pressing out any unwanted wrinkles. She also kept a respectful distance from the girl next to her, and Diana was looking at everything in the room except for Akko. Akko, was doing the exact same thing, and though they were unaware of it, Lotte watched them curiously. She tilted her head at the side glances one would give the other when the other wasn't looking. If one happened to glance over when the other was looking, the two would immediately look away and focus their gazes on something else. Lotte felt the small knowing smile form on the corners of her lips.

"Alright," Sucy said, "this should be everything required." She handed the paper to Lotte, and the other two girls gathered around her, examining the list.

"Huh," Akko was the first to speak, "I'm surprised that you didn't put any mushrooms on the list." Sucy shrugged at the statement.

"Unfortunately, the qualities mushrooms possess can't be used to neutralize a demon. The mushrooms would also put Jasminka to sleep as well if they were added in." Sucy answered, she then turned away from them as she sat down at her desk and fired up her hot plate and Bunsen burner. The three other girls started to head out of the room.

"We'll be back Sucy." Lotte said before she closed the door.

They met Hannah and Barbra at the ley line. And all of them went through to Blytonbury. Once they landed on the other side, they each went their separate ways. Hannah and Barbra went towards the supermarket, while Akko, Diana and Lotte headed towards The Last Wednesday Society. As they entered the little shop, the shopkeeper looked up from his newspaper.

"What can I do for you today?" The shopkeeper said, setting the newspaper aside as the trio approached the counter.

"We were wondering if you had these supplies." Lotte said as she handed the list over to the shop keeper. He scanned the list and looked back up towards the group.

"We could have some of these in the back, but some of the items we don't carry like salt or sage. You can get those at the grocery store." The shop keeper replied as they got up from their seat and headed to the back. As they stood there, neither Diana or Akko noticed the subtle gleam in her eyes.

"You guys can go get the stuff from the grocery store if you want, I'll wait here for the rest of the items." Lotte suggested.

"Are you sure Lotte?" Akko asked with a tilt of her head, "We can all go together after here." Lotte shook her head in response.

"I'm sure Akko, it'll be faster this way, and the sooner we get the ingredients the sooner we can help Jasminka." Lotte reasoned. Akko looked over to Diana who shrugged and they headed out the door. Akko was first followed by Diana, but before leaving the store Diana turned to look at Lotte with her brows furrowed in suspicion. Lotte had her back turned to the two, so Diana was unable to see her face, but Diana followed after Akko without another word to say on the matter. At the little bell on the door signaled their departure, Lotte turned her head in the direction of the door, watching as the two started heading towards the supermarket, the small knowing smile she had before growing bigger, "And it'll be better for you two as well. I saw what was going on between you guys earlier, so all you need is a little push." She whispered to herself.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Hey Diana?"

"What is it Akko?" The two had just left the Last Wednesday Society and the pair was walking down the street towards the little grocery shop at the end of the road.

"What do you think of this whole thing with Jasminka? I mean it would be great to get the demon out of her stomach, but what if that's not what the song she's supposed to unlock is for?" Akko said, she rubbed her arm as her head drooped in uncertain thought. Diana looked over at the girl next to her, an eyebrow raised, but she looked back ahead, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, if the song isn't for getting the demon out, then the potion will neutralize it for the time being and Jasminka will be able to unlock the song when she finds out what she needs it for." Diana responded, looking back over to Akko to see if that garnered any response. Diana paused in their walking, and Akko turned back to look at her, a slightly confused look on her face, "Akko, is something on your mind? You seem to be lost in thought, and it looks like something is bothering you." Akko looked away from the blue eyes that looked at her with concern. She then looked back, then down to her feet.

"Well it's just that, if we can't get the demon out of Jasminka, what will happen to her when the demon wakes back up? The potion won't last forever, what will we do then." Came Akko's reply, which caused Diana's eyes to widen as she raised her eyebrows in surprise. She never had expected something like this to come out of Akko's mouth of all people.

"I know that it won't be like that Akko. You of all people should know that." Diana took a step forward and placed her left hand on Akko's right shoulder, which caused Akko to look back up into those blue pools, while Diana gazed into a warm crimson that was slightly dulled with anxiousness. "You always said that 'A believing heart is your magic' right? And I told you that I believed in your believing heart, but you need to believe in that believing heart of yours as well." She removed her hand from Akko's shoulder, Akko looked up at her in a stunned silence, her eyes wide and mouth slightly open. Diana gave the girl a soft smile, her face a slight shade of pink, "You need to have a little faith Akko. We will figure this out." Diana continued on towards the grocery store, and Akko followed closely behind her. Akko's eyes seemed a thousand times brighter, her eyes no longer dull, but reinvigorated with the bright fire that was usually in them. They entered the small grocery store, and they made their way to the back of the store where the spice aisle was kept.

"So, which ones did we need to get from here again?" Akko asked, looking at the rows and rows of spices and seasonings before them.

"Sage, salt, rosemary, dillweed, garlic cloves, mint and parsley are the ones we need to get here. Although garlic cloves will be down in the produce section." Diana replied as she picked up a small bottle of some herb and set it back upon the shelf after inspecting it. Akko did the same, and there was a comfortable silence between the two. Salt was the easiest to find, as it was in the larger containers at the bottom, and soon they had all of the required spices minus the garlic cloves. As they made their way to the produce section, Akko inspected the bottle of mint leaves in her hand.

"Diana?" Akko asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Yes?"

"What can this stuff do to neutralize a demon?" Akko asked, "I know that these things can be used in other potions, but these seem a little mundane against something like a demon." Diana let out a sigh and shook her head slightly at that last remark.

"Well you are right, these things may seem a little ordinary and mundane, but these plants have magical properties that work well with purification rituals." Diana snuck a sideways glance over to Akko, who was still inspecting the herbs in her possession. A small sly smile formed on Diana's lips before she continued, "You would have known all about this if you had payed attention in class at the beginning of last year." Akko stopped dead in her tracks, that fiery look of annoyance on her face of when the two were so called "rivals" was making a return. Diana only gave a playful smirk in response.

"Hey!" Akko shouted, almost dropping the bottles of herbs she carried in the process, "I've gotten a lot better since then! I'd like you to know that my grades have risen up from D minuses to B's!"

"And for that I am proud of you." Diana replied, and the shocked look on Akko's face proved to be worth it, as she turned a dark shade of red as she averted her gaze from the blonde in front of her.

"Really?" Akko quietly said, looking back at Diana with a starry look in her eyes and a softer grin that Diana had never seen before. Diana felt a heat rise in her cheeks, and a light dusting of pink colored her cheeks.

"Really." Diana answered, her voice a bit softer and quieter, and soon she found herself unable to tear her eyes away from the crimson ones that stared back into hers. Then realizing what was going on, Diana tore her gaze away, the blush on her face becoming deeper, and she cleared her throat. "Well then, here's the garlic cloves that we needed." She adjusted the supplies in her hands as she grabbed the bag of cloves from the produce stand. Akko just watched on, her expression a mix between confused, wistful, and longing. They then made their way to the checkout aisles. Despite there being three aisles open, there was quite the line, especially from the middle one, and upon passing the pair noticed the reason why. The whole conveyor belt filled to the brim with chips, sweets, and various other snack foods, and at the brunt of it all was Hannah and Barbra. The cashier also looked as if his soul left his body as he scanned item after item.

"I hope that's enough to tide Jasminka over for now." Akko said as they made their way over to the aisle on the other side of them.

"I hope that it does." Diana replied as she paid for the herbs and salt. By the time they were done, the cashier that was waiting on Hannah and Barbra had scanned the last item and heaved a relieved sigh that it was over and done with. As they finished paying, they shrunk the bags of snacks into a more manageable size with their wands, and neatly tucked them into their purses that they brought with them. Diana and Akko walked up to them, and Hannah and Barbra seemed surprised to see the two there.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hannah asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I thought you were getting supplies for the potion." Barbra added as she looked between the two girls.

"As a matter of fact, we did." Diana replied, holding up the bag she carried with the ingredients.

"Yeah, Lotte is over at Last Wednesday, getting the rest of the supplies." Akko continued, "We were going back to meet her, then we were going to give these ingredients to Sucy."

"Oh okay," Hannah said with a nod, "Well, we were just about to head back ourselves."

"We'll see you guys later." Barbra waved and the two girls exited the store followed by Akko and Diana. They parted ways as they exited the store, Akko and Diana heading back to The Last Wednesday Society, and Hannah and Barbra to the ley line terminal. Lotte was waiting by the fountain in the town square. She had two paper bags filled to the brim sitting next to her and she stood up when she saw Akko and Diana.

"Did you guys find the rest of the ingredients?" Lotte asked as they were within earshot as she picked up the bags.

"Yes, we did." Diana confirmed, "Now we just need to secure the supplies so that we don't lose any. We are going to have a rough ride back to Luna Nova." Lotte nodded in agreement and proceeded to do so, as she shrunk the items down to where she could put them in her purse much like Hannah and Barbra did. Akko stood there, pondering the words Diana had said.

"Why is it going to be a rough ride?" Akko asked, "The ley line was just fine this morning." Diana pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath before she looked at Akko.

"Akko, when ley lines are exposed to salinity, they react negatively to it," Diana explained, Akko just stared blankly at her, "We are carrying salt with us."

"Remember when we got stuck in the Forest of Arcturus the first time Akko?" Lotte prompted, "That happened because the ley line didn't like your pickled plums."

"Oh yeah." Akko said rubbing the back of her neck with a small giggle, "I remember that now."

"Alright, it seems that everything is secured, shall we get going?" Diana said, and the other two nodded in confirmation and they made their way back to the ley line terminal.


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm sorry I haven't posted a new chapter in a while, life got kind of busy and I haven't been able to upload consistently like I was doing. I'm currently working on the next chapter however, so I will upload that when it's ready. For now, I hope you guys enjoy this extra long chapter, and let me know what you guys think!**

Chapter 10

Jasminka sat on her chair, munching on her newly acquired bag of chips. The muscles in her arm felt like lead that was melting, and her jaw was like a rusted spring that was about to snap from under the pressure. Her hand searched the bottom of the bag, and she crumpled it up, tossed it in the trashcan by the desk, reached for another bag, opened it and resumed the process.

"Man, I hope they get back with the potion ingredients soon." Amanda said from her bunk, as she lounged back. She tapped her foot lightly against her leg in impatience. Hannah and Barbra had already arrived and delivered the snacks to Jasminka. Constanze sat quietly on her bed, welding on a project that she was currently working on. Jasminka watched her friends, a forlorn look on her face. They could have been out having fun like they usually did on weekends, and her spirits turned as the thought crossed her mind. She looked out of the small window as the afternoon sun filtered through. The harp sat untouched in its place on the desk, and Jasminka reached out to pick it up. Before she could do so, the door to their room slammed open to reveal a very out of breath Akko. She was slouched forward, hand still on the door, and her whole body was heaving for breath. She looked up to meet the curious gazes of the room's occupants, and a smile grew on her face.

"It's done." She said.

The purple liquid bubbled as Sucy held up the vial for everyone to see. The blue, green and red teams were gathered in the red team's dorm room. Jasminka was standing in the middle of the room, harp cradled in her arms, as well as her current bag of chips.

"Alright, if this doesn't work, then I'm out of ideas on how to neutralize that thing." Sucy said as she handed the vial to Jasminka, "That is one of the most powerful neutralizing potions on the planet." Jasminka looked down at the vial and back up to Sucy, and she looked around at everyone staring anxiously at her.

"Well, here goes nothing." Jasminka said and downed the brew. It was sticky and stuck to the back of her throat like gum to a shoe, and the flavor was like a mix of lemons and limes as well as that sour salt candy. Jasminka doubled over, dropping the harp and her bag of chips in the process as she clutched her stomach.

"That… didn't… taste good." Jasminka muttered, as she staved off the rising acid and bile in her throat.

"What did you put in that stuff Sucy?" Akko asked, not taking her eyes off Jasminka.

"The stuff you gave me, and some of your pickled plums." Sucy replied with a shrug. Akko reeled her attention toward Sucy, her teeth bared and fists at her side.

"You used my pickled plums?!" Akko shouted, and Sucy backed away as Akko invaded her personal space.

"Hey! That thing didn't like them anyway, so relax a little." Sucy responded adding a glare of her own. Akko let out a low growl of frustration and turned away from her and crossed her arms with a huff.

"What a waste of perfectly delicious plums." Akko muttered under her breath. During the little exchange Jasminka recovered from the horrible taste of the potion and righted herself back up. Everyone turned her attention toward her.

"How are you feeling Jas?" Amanda asked as Jasminka picked the harp off of the floor. Jasminka was silent for a moment. Usually she could feel the demon inside of her stomach writhed and wriggled as it consumed the contents of the food she constantly ate, but now she didn't feel anything moving around in there. Everything was still.

"It's quiet." Jasminka said after a long pause.

"That's a good sign right?" Akko asked, and Diana nodded her head in confirmation.

"If she doesn't feel anything and everything is quiet in there, then the demon has been put to sleep." Diana explained, "Now, that should buy us some time until we figure out the first song." Jasminka nodded her head as she looked down at the harp in her hands, and without a word, she walked out of the dorm room. Everyone watched her go, curiosity and concern in their eyes. As the door closed, they all exchanged a glance with each other.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Lotte said, breaking the silence.

Jasminka walked down the hallway, looking at the harp in her hands. She didn't know where she was heading but she wasn't planning on going anywhere in particular. She made her way outside and towards the hill. In the distance she saw Odin and Amanda's fox curled up under the shade of a tree taking a nap. Up in the tree branches, were the rest of the group's familiars with the exception of Hannah and Barbra's toads. She walked past them, and towards the hill where they first encountered Rhiannon. As she passed the familiars, Odin raised his head up and regarded Jasminka with a tilt of his head, then resumed his nap. Jasminka didn't notice however as she started climbing up the hill. She reached the top and sat down, and watched as the other girls in the school went on about their business. Some were relaxing on the benches and doing their weekend homework while others were practicing their magic. A small breeze whisked through her hair, but Jasminka didn't budge.

"You seem to be lost in thought." Jasminka jolted out of her thoughts at the deep yet echoing voice. She turned to see Rhiannon standing behind her. The specter was looking off towards the other students, a small smile on her face and nostalgia glistened in her eyes. She then looked down at Jasminka who regarded her curiously. "The demon that resides in you is quiet." Jasminka looked back down to the ground.

"It was put to sleep by a potion Sucy made." Jasminka said, "It was getting too strong."

"Ah, yes." Rhiannon said, "The resurgence of magic has had an effect on it. Since beings such as faeries and demons live on magic, the more magic there is the more powerful they can become."

"What am I going to do about it?" Jasminka asked, looking up at Rhiannon in despair. Rhiannon didn't respond, but she turned away from Jasminka, and started to walk towards the ruins of the north campus. Jasminka scrambled to her feet to follow her. They walked a few feet before Rhiannon stopped.

"Do you remember the dream you had last night?" Rhiannon asked, with her back still turned toward Jasminka.

"Yes," Jasminka nodded, "why?"

"Well, something in the vision is important to your situation." Rhiannon replied in a cryptic manner.

"Is it about the Giant King?" Jasminka probed.

"Perhaps."

"What was wrong with him? He didn't look good in that dream." It was at this, Rhiannon turned around.

"You're correct, in fact he was in a similar situation as you are right now." Rhiannon confirmed with a solemn nod of her head.

"What was it?" Jasminka prodded for more answers and the specter turned her head away, looking off into the distance.

"A weary soul that did not find peace in their life situation." Rhiannon stated, "He did not accept the fate that was dealt to him. It made him sick, as you saw in the vision. So, I helped him find peace." Jasminka stared at the spectral woman before her, head tilted and eyes wide. Rhiannon turned to face Jasminka once again, "If you find peace within yourself, then maybe you'll find the answer that you're looking for." Rhiannon then vanished before Jasminka's eyes, a golden phoenix feather was left in her place. Jasminka picked up the feather and inspected it before she put it in her pocket. She felt a turn in her stomach as the demon rolled in its sleep, and she placed a hand on the spot where the demon resided. She looked toward the towers of Luna Nova, and made her way back to the school, and her waiting friends.

"Alright, what are we going to do when that thing wakes back up?" Amanda slammed her palm onto the desk in the red team's room, "Jasminka won't be able to handle that thing when it does."

"I made enough of that potion to last about a week." Sucy said.

"What happens when we run out? Some of those ingredients were super rare, and they might not be available the next time we go shopping." Lotte continued as she adjusted her glasses.

"But the potion is only a temporary measure." Diana added, placing a finger on her chin in thought, "And soon the demon may become resistant to the potion as well if we somehow kept brewing it."

"But what other option do we have?" Hannah asked, clutching Barbra's hands.

"We could go to one of the professors about this." Barbra suggested.

"Unfortunately, the professors wouldn't be able to do anything about it if we did go to them." Diana pointed out.

"Could we tell Professor Chariot?" Akko asked and everyone looked over to her since she was unusually silent through the whole conversation, "I mean, she knows about the task Rhiannon gave us so why can't we tell her?"

"Akko," Diana began, but before she could continue any further the door opened to reveal a reinvigorated Jasminka. Everyone turned in surprise as Jasminka calmly walked into the room and picked up her discarded bag of chips and sat down in her usual place and started munching contentedly. Everyone else exchanged a glance, then they looked back at Jasminka.

"Um, hey Jas," Amanda said as she cleared her throat, "how are you doin?"

"I'm doing better." Jasminka replied in her usual bubbly tone. Everyone backed away slowly from the other girl, then they simultaneously formed a huddle.

"Alright," Amanda whispered, "something's definitely up with her."

"Maybe she knows something that we haven't figured out." Lotte said, and all of them looked at Jasminka who still sat happily snacking on her chips. Then they whipped their heads back into the huddle.

"Though, as to what she knows, I have no idea what it would be." Diana said.

"She left the room for a while." Akko reasoned, "Maybe she found something out while she was gone."

"Although Jasminka isn't one to visit the library." Sucy pointed out, "That's more of Diana's thing." Diana shot Sucy a cross look at the jab but remained silent. Constanze nodded in agreement with Sucy's statement. Akko wriggled out of the huddle and walked up to Jasminka, and everyone stared at the exchange that was going to happen.

"Hey Jasminka," Akko said and Jasminka looked up cheerfully at the Japanese witch, "what did you do when you left the room?"

"Talked to Rhiannon." Jasminka answered as she continued eating her chips.

"What did she say Jas?" Amanda said after a pause.

"I needed to find peace within myself." Jasminka said, "And I do that by eating my snacks and hanging out with my friends." Everyone shared a stunned look, as Jasminka continued and she held out her bag of chips, "Would you like some?" Tentatively everyone reached out and took a chip from the bag. At Jasminka's insistence they sat down and made themselves comfortable and they made light conversation. Akko was sitting next to Diana on her bunk and leaned over to whisper in Diana's ear.

"What do you think is going on?" Akko asked, and Diana looked over to the brunette noticing the closeness of the other girl's proximity to her face but saying nothing about it.

"It looks like we're relaxing, though I don't have a clue as to why." Diana whispered back. They looked over at Jasminka, who let out a content sigh. And she leaned back on Sucy's bunk, a smile gracing her face. Her hand rubbed her stomach, unconsciously as if she were stroking the demon's sleeping form. Then as if on cue, the harp started glowing and everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at the glowing harp that rested by Jasminka's side.

"Is it-" Amanda started, sitting up.

"The song." Akko finished. Jasminka picked up the harp and stood up unsteadily. Five strings glowed one at a time, as if they were instructing the order of which strings should be plucked. As if she were being guided by an unseen hand, Jasminka started plucking the strings. The room was immediately filled with a resounding melody that felt soothing to the ear and the soul, then Jasminka started to sing:

_"__Come with me,_

_Rest thy weary soul,_

_And Sadness shall find you no more."_

Then everyone gasped in awe as the harp transformed into glowing golden tendrils that reached out and wrapped themselves around Jasminka like ribbons. They weaved their forms together, concentrating themselves on Jasminka's stomach and formed a hand like shape, reaching through and pulling out a small black blob that was tossed onto the floor. Then the golden tendrils dispersed as the black blob blinked the sleep out of its two white orbs for eyes. It regarded the witches who were in a stunned silence, before letting out a ribbit and hopped over to the window and leaped out. Everyone looked over to Jasminka who still held the harp in her hands, but another pressing matter was at hand, the demon was now loose on the campus.

"We should go after that thing." Amanda said, bringing everyone out of their stupor. Then with wands at the ready, they bolted out the door.

The group ran down the halls, past the curious glances of the students. As fast as they could, they made their way towards the door to the entrance. As they exited the building they scanned the area around them. They didn't see anything out of the ordinary, but if left to its own devices the demon could cause major damage, not to mention it could cause major damage. Akko placed her pinkie fingers into the side of her mouth and let out a long whistle. In a flutter of large wings, Odin appeared in front of the group.

"You called Akko?" Odin tilted his head, looking around at the group.

"We need to locate a demon that got loose. Can you track it down?" Akko asked.

"Sure thing." Odin replied with a dip of his head, and then he looked at Jasminka, who still had the harp clutched in her hands, "I assume this is the demon that was in your belly?" Jasminka responded with a nod of her head, "Alright, it should have your scent then." Odin walked up to the pink haired girl, and started sniffing. His breath felt like a slight breeze, as it was more powerful than a normal animal would have had as it caused Jasminka's hair and skirt to start fluttering in its wake. He then lifted his head into the air, scenting the breeze for a familiar scent, as he paced around the group in circles. He lowered his head to the ground, searching for any traces of the scent of the demon, then he lifted his head again into the air. Then he stopped suddenly, his head turned to the south, toward the school gates. He finally turned toward the group.

"I found it, but do you have your brooms to fly with?" Odin said, "I do not have enough room on my back to carry you all." Diana stepped forward, raising her wand and muttering a spell under her breath and circled her arm. Everyone's brooms materialized at their sides and they mounted them, following Odin's lead and kicked off the ground. While Amanda and Diana were at the front of the group, Akko was at the very back since she was the most inexperienced of the group, thus she was not the fastest flyer. Everyone else was somewhere in between. As they followed Odin they scanned the ground beneath them carefully for a black gelatinous blob creature. They were soon accompanied by the other familiars of the group, being Jasminka's and Constanze's crows, Sucy's bat, Diana's Barn owl, and Lotte's pygmy owl. Amanda's fox was running on the ground below them. Hannah's and Barbra's toads were not present however, since the two kept them in their room. Their search was not long however, as the sound of girls screaming caught their attention. And as they rounded a corner of the school, they were met with the looming form of the demon who had grown massive in size as it extended its body into arm like forms that wrapped around anything it could get and plunged its unfortunate victims into its gullet.

"WHAT? IT'S ALREADY HUGE!" Akko exclaimed as everyone floated in place, dumbfounded at the demon's size. Before any of them could act, a spell blast came from the school, where they could see a very enraged Finnelan swooping in on her broom. The blast hit the demon in the head, but it only shook its head in annoyance. It glared up at Finnelan who hovered above its head.

"This is an outrage!" She shouted, "A demon summoned here? How could this have possibly ha-" before she could finish her sentence the demon snatched her up in one of its gelatin like tentacles and swallowed her whole with a boiling tar like sound as it closed its mouth. It then started smashing in windows and snatching up students and other objects like it was originally, growing in size as it did so.

"If it continues at this rate the whole school will be demolished." Diana stated.

"We can't let that happen!" Akko shouted, a determined look etched across her face as she did so and she pounded a fist into her hand, "We need to come up with a plan to neutralize it."

"I can dump what's left of that potion onto it." Sucy offered.

"We all can use different spells to disorient it." Lotte added. Akko nodded in satisfaction, then she turned to Jasminka.

"And Jasminka, when we distract it, you use the harp on it." Akko said, and Jasminka nodded with a smile., "Alright! Let's do this!" Akko pumped a determined fist into the air. They flew at the monster, who was still chomping down on the things and students that it would grab. In a flash, Amanda whirled around the monster in a dizzying spiral, creating a smoke trail behind her, temporarily blinding the monster. The monster stopped its snacking and looked around in confusion. As it did so, Diana cast a _murowa _spell from behind and hit it in the back of its head. The monster whirled around letting out an enraged roar as Diana merely flitted away out of reach of the gelatinous tentacles. The monster was about to make its way after Diana in pursuit, when a barrage of magic beams started hitting the monster in the side from ground level where Constanze was using her custom-built shooter. A gelatinous tentacle shot out at the small witch in response, but before it could make contact, the tentacle was instantly transformed into a cloud. Akko floated on her broom proudly as Constanze gave her a thumbs up.

"Hey mister demon." The demon looked up to see Sucy grinning maliciously holding a vial in her hand, "Open up." The demon roared, its maw opened wide, as Sucy cackled as she poured the vile liquid down its throat. The demon recoiled, its mass shrinking in on itself and its size decreased slightly, but it wasn't enough as the demon roared again, lashing out a tentacle at the potion master. However a powerful blast of magic blasted the arm off the demon, and everyone looked up to see Chariot standing on the roof of the school. She took off her glasses and tossed them aside before she leaped into action. Her eyes were blazing with the rage of fire of a mother bear. She leaped onto different outcroppings of the school building, her spell blasts at the demon moved in a primal fashion and her voice was guttural as she shouted them, dodging the demon's attacks with cat like ease. Everyone watched the scene before them in stunned silence. Akko, who landed, walked over to Jasminka.

"I think-" she started but was cut off by a loud crash. They looked over to see that the demon had bashed a tentacle into the school's side, however there was also a falling figure and her bright red hair was glistening in the sunlight. It was Chariot.

"Professor!" Akko yelled, running toward the scene before anyone could stop her. As Akko ran in a futile attempt to rescue her professor, a flash of brown soared over her head, and Odin had intercepted Chariot's fall, the professor landing on the winged wolf's back. Akko stopped in her tracks, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Good boy." Akko said, a small relieved smile making its way onto her face. The moment was short lived however as a cold and slimy tentacle wrapped around Akko's waist, forcefully removing her from the ground, causing her to drop her wand. Akko struggled against the forceful squeezing of the demon, feeling like a mouse being suffocated by a boa constrictor. With every squeeze, Akko became more lightheaded, and her vision became blurrier. She was barely on the brink of consciousness when she saw the bright flash of golden light. Was that harp music she was hearing? She wasn't too sure, but the squeezing stopped, and the wind was rushing in her ears, it felt quite nice Akko thought. Then suddenly, she felt a jolt and saw a blob of platinum blonde hair, and desperate blue eyes. _Huh, this is nice_ Akko thought _this must be what heaven is like_.

"AKKO!" the shout brought Akko back into some clarity, as she finally registered where she was. She was on a broom, and Diana was holding onto her, tears streaming from her face. Then Akko haphazardly sat up as best as she could, watching the scene behind them. Diana turned the broom, and the pair watched as golden threadlike tendrils weaved around the demon. Jasminka was standing at the foot of the demon, playing the glowing harp. The more she played, the tighter the golden tendrils became around the demon, and with one final pluck of a harp string, the demon exploded into a jelly explosion, freeing all of the unfortunate victims of the demon's hunger, including a very bewildered Finnelan.

"She did it!" Akko said beaming and looked over to Diana who returned the smile.

"It's a good thing she did, or else someone's recklessness would have gotten themselves killed." Diana countered, her expression becoming serious. Akko stuck her tongue out in retaliation. Diana merely rolled her eyes at the childish display, "However, I'm glad you're alright."

"Awwww. You do care about me after all." Akko smiled smugly as the other witch turned a slight shade of pink as she cleared her throat and shut her eyes as they started to make their way to the ground. _How cute… wait, what?_ Akko pushed the thought aside, as they landed. She immediately jumped off the broom and dashed over to Jasminka, who stood proudly as the rest of their friends and Chariot congratulated the girl for finishing off the demon. However, the harp started glowing once again, stopping all of the chatter in the group as they watched the harp dissolve from Jasminka's hands, then reformed itself into Amanda's hands.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"Alright class, now that all of your familiars are present, we are going to try practicing that new spell that we have been learning." The professor said, instructing the class who readied their wands. It had been a week since the incident with the demon, and things were back to normal, with the help of some repair magic. Akko and Odin were close to the back of the room, due to Odin's large size. Lotte and Sucy were at a table nearby, already practicing the spell. There were already gasps of excitement and bewilderment already filling the room. Akko turned to Odin, a wide smile on her face.

"Are you ready Odin?" Akko asked, bouncing in her seat.

"Yes," Odin replied, "now remember to focus on the bond between our souls."

"Right." Akko took a deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing as intently as she could on the flow of magic energy between herself and her familiar, "_Visus Copulare_." As Akko opened her eyes, she noticed something was different. While she looked around the room, everything looked normal including Odin sitting across from her, except for the fact she could see the exact scene before her in her mind's eye where she was taller than everything else and at a different vantage point in the room, she could even see herself.

"Woah," Akko breathed, "This is weird. I'm seeing double."

"That's because we're seeing things from each other's perspective." Odin said, moving his head to the right, the vision in Akko's mind doing the same thing.

"That's so cool!" Akko squealed, bringing her fists up to her chin in excitement, "Everything looks so small through your eyes Odin!" Odin let out a sigh, his ears flattening against his head in annoyance, glancing at Akko, then looked away once again.

"Alright class," the professor called attention once again, "Now that you and your familiar have joined sight, to break the link you must recite '_separatum aspectu_'. You will then return to your normal sight." The class did as instructed and as Akko chanted the spell, the vision in her mind faded and she was once again seeing from her own vantage point. A few of the other girls shook their heads as if they were recovering from a bought of dizziness. Even Akko shook off a feeling of lightheadedness, and as she looked around the classroom, she noticed Diana wasn't even fazed by the whole transition as the other girl was sitting calmly in her seat near the front of the room. "Now that you all have recovered from the dizzy spell, can any of you guess why we would use a spell like this." Without much surprise, Diana promptly raised her hand, "Miss Cavendish?"

"A spell like this has many uses, one such use would be to scout out a dangerous area before entering or being able to see things you cannot see normally." Diana said. The professor nodded in acknowledgement, then turned to the rest of the class.

"That is correct, this spell can be used for those various reasons. Another use for this spell, and its original cause for development was for a witch to be able to not be blindsided during an attack in a battle situation." The professor added, she turned back to the board and the lesson continued on.

"So how's the research on the second song going?" Akko asked Amanda at lunch later that day. Amanda was leaning back in her seat as usual, the harp in question was laying in the middle of the table.

"Eh, just as much as you guys know." Amanda shrugged, "Just the lyrics." After the demon incident they once again met in Chariot's office where they were relayed the lyrics of the second song:

_I face the challenge before thee,_

_And protect those in need._

Akko nodded and went back to eating her potato salad. She half listened to the chit chat of the group. Lotte and Barbra were discussing _Nightfall_, Sucy was sipping on a juice box that was mushroom flavored, Jasminka and Hannah were sharing different food recipes, and Diana was busy reviewing notes for another class. Akko took another bite of her potato salad, but as soon as she put it in her mouth she spit it back out as a vile sour taste took over her mouth. Akko rounded on Sucy, who was still sipping her juice box.

"What did you put in here Sucy?!" Sucy looked over to the girl next to her, rolled her visible eye.

"What makes you think I'll tell you." Sucy answered, and soon their conversation drifted into bickering once again. Diana let out a sigh, glancing up at the two bickering witches from the opposite end of the table, brow furrowed with irritation before continuing her review of her notes.

"Honestly," Diana muttered under her breath, "All of this bickering is quite childish. There are clearly other things that are more important." Amanda looked over to the heiress, a brow raised as she glanced between Diana and Akko and Sucy who were completely oblivious to everything else going on around them.

"Seems to me that you're the only one that's bothered by it." Amanda pointed out, gesturing to the other occupants of the shared table who were completely ignoring the bickering. Diana looked up briefly, shrugged her shoulders and resumed writing.

"I'm just saying that it's not common courtesy to blatantly argue in front of all your peers." Diana rebuked, causing Amanda to smirk.

"Sure, keep telling that to yourself. If you want, we can bet on who will win this round." Amanda suggested. Diana looked up and huffed with a roll of her eyes.

"Absolutely not O'neal." Diana said as she resumed her writing, "I will not partake in such activities."

"Are you mad because you lost the bet last time?" Amanda asked as she leaned forward, a smug grin plastered on her face. Diana's writing increased in speed, as she made it a point to not look Amanda in the eye and remained silent. Amanda's grin grew wider and she decided to prod a little more "Come on Diana, you very well know that Akko always loses those arguments against Sucy, yet you placed a bet on her." Diana stopped writing and looked Amanda straight in the eye with an unreadable expression.

"I have no idea what you're getting at O'neal, but I assure you, losing that bet you coerced me into isn't something that I am bothered by." Diana said pointedly, "It's just a rule of common courtesy to not cause a scene."

"Yet you don't seem like you're going to stop it anytime soon." Amanda pointed out.

"Even if I did," Diana said, her expression softening as she looked over towards Akko and Sucy who were still arguing, "they would still argue next time. Akko won't give up until she wins one, and that's just who she is. Maybe one day she will win, even if it's over something trivial."

"Somebody's whipped." Amanda muttered looking away from Diana with a bored sigh.

"I beg your pardon?" Diana narrowed her eyes at Amanda.

"I didn't say anything." Amanda remarked. Just as Diana opened her mouth to reply the door to the cafeteria opened and Amanda's fox scurried inside. The fox bounded over to Amanda's feet, a letter was being carried in its mouth. "Ranger what are you doing in here?" Amanda bent down and upon seeing the letter took it from the fox's mouth to inspect it. "Wonder what this is." Almost everyone at the table turned their attention to the letter in Amanda's hands, with the exception of Akko and Sucy, whose argument was now heard by everyone.

"Why do you have to grow mushrooms in our room?! I almost tripped on a pot of them that was by the door when I came back from the bathroom last night!"

"Uh, guys." Lotte started, but was drowned out by Sucy.

"At least my mushrooms are nice and quiet, and they're not loud and obnoxious when they sleep."

"Guys-" Lotte was cut off once again.

"I'm quiet when I sleep!"

"Oh come on! Last night in your sleep you kept muttering Diana's name-"

"SUCY!"

"GUYS!" Lotte shouted, finally catching the two's attention. They both looked around to find everyone staring at them. Akko felt heat rising to her face at the remark Sucy had made, but as she looked around, the heat in her face began to intensify from the curious looks from Constanze and Jasminka, to the slightly amused faces from Hannah and Barbra. When Akko made eye contact with Diana, who wore an expression of slight confusion and curiosity with a slight dusting of pink on her cheeks. Akko's throat went completely dry as the heat rising in her face reached its boiling point and she gulped.

"I…" Akko, was at a complete loss for words and she looked around her, avoiding Diana's gaze, and everyone with the exception of Lotte and Diana burst out laughing.

"Oh my God!" Amanda was doubled over, banging her fist on the table wheezing, "Akko you look like a tomato!" Akko looked down at the ground, one of her hands clutching her arm, not saying anything.

"Alright, that's enough all of you!" Diana stood up, silencing the group with an authoritative look, "Amanda, I do believe that you have a letter, an official looking one at that, would you do us all a favor and open it?"

"Fine." Amanda said, "It's not like I wasn't going to." She picked up the letter and turned the envelope where a green wax seal had sealed up the contents of the letter. As Amanda broke the seal, everyone waited in anticipation and curiosity. Inside was a letter, written on thick parchment like paper. Amanda unfolded the letter and began to read:

"_To my granddaughter Amanda,_

_I am hoping you are doing well, it's been so long since I last saw you. You were a baby when I saw you last, and I've heard that you have grown into a fine young witch. I've talked to your father recently, and I'm glad to hear your family in America is doing just fine. I am extending an invitation to you to come to the old family home this weekend. Of course your family will be attending, and knowing your rebellious streak you are required to attend. And you are welcome bring along your friends as well. And you all must bring along formal wear. No exceptions young lady._

_With Love,_

_Your Grandma Nessa O'neal"_

Amanda finished reading and everyone exchanged looks and Amanda broke the silence once more, "Well, it looks like we'll be going to Ireland this weekend."

"Wait," Akko interjected, "I thought you were from the United States?"

"I am," Amanda said, "My mom and dad moved there before I was born, but the rest of the family lives in Ireland."

"It sounds like you're having a family reunion." Sucy said.

"Yeah, I guess so." Amanda replied with a shrug tossing the letter onto the table. She then looked up at everyone else. "So are you guys up for an adventure this weekend?"

"Are you kidding?" Akko piped up, "We're definitely in! Right Lotte, Sucy?"

"Yeah, I guess so." Lotte said, pushing her glasses back into place, Sucy just shrugged.

"Since everyone else is going we might as well go too." Hannah said.

"Yeah, who knows we might get to see some hot Irish boys." Barbra mused, Diana rolled her eyes at the statement but turned to address Amanda.

"When are we departing?" she asked.

"If anyone doesn't have any objections, Friday after classes end?" Amanda suggested, looking around to see if anyone would voice any objections, but no one did, "Alright then, Friday afternoon it is."

"This isn't good at all!" Akko shouted, throwing yet another school uniform in her trunk aside as she dug through it. For the past half hour she had dug through her belongings looking for some semblance of a presentable dress for whatever formal event that was going to be held, but had no such luck.

"What happened to that Cinderella set you got from the magic item café?" Lotte asked from her top bunk, "You could use that again."

"I returned it because I thought I wasn't going to use it again." Akko replied as she replaced her Shiny Chariot trading card binder into the trunk, then shutting the lid, "And the spell only lasted for two hours." She slumped onto her bunk with a sigh, "I still can't get _Metamorphie Vestise _quite right either. Even if it's still metamorphosis magic, it's different from turning something into an animal."

"If you want to, we can go shopping for a dress Akko." Lotte suggested, peering down from her bunk. Akko jumped up, accidentally hitting her head on the bottom of Lotte's bunk. She rubbed her head as she stood up and looked up at Lotte.

"Really?" Akko beamed, the pain in her head forgotten as Lotte nodded in confirmation.

"Did you want to come too Sucy?" Lotte asked the other girl who didn't look up from her experimenting during the whole conversation.

"No thanks." Sucy answered, "Dress shopping isn't really my thing."

"Alright then." Lotte said, climbing down from her bunk.

"Let's go!" Akko said rushing out the door.

"What do you think of this one Lotte?" Akko asked holding up a yellow dress with white flower patterns. Lotte shook her head in disagreement. They'd spent a greater part of the afternoon going through the various shops in town, even the Last Wednesday Society, who didn't have any recent shipments of magical clothing much to Akko's disappointment. They then came across a little boutique where the items were of fairly decent and affordable prices and had spent about a half an hour in the store.

"That doesn't really complement you Akko." Lotte said, "It clashes with your eyes too much." Akko slumped and put the dress back on the rack and crossed her arms with a huff. Lotte walked up to another rack across from Akko and started filing through the dresses. "So, what's so special about this formal event with Amanda's family that you're trying to find the perfect dress?" Lotte gently prodded her friend, who shrugged in response.

"I don't know Lotte," Akko started fiddling with the fabric of a dress on the rack behind Lotte, who looked at Akko curiously, "It's just I feel like I have to go all out and not embarrass myself." Lotte raised an eyebrow.

"That's never bothered you before." Lotte said, "You've never cared about what anyone's thought about you." Lotte walked up to Akko, who was looking at the floor, the thought of the dress all but forgotten. Lotte put a hand on Akko's shoulder, "What's going on Akko?" Akko looked up in surprise, but then she let out a sigh.

"Well… I just don't want to mess up in front of Diana." Akko admitted, Lotte's eyes widened at the confession, _could it really be_? "She is my rival after all, even if she's my friend I still want to out do her…" _Oh_. Lotte raised a skeptical brow waiting for Akko to continue as the other girl suddenly stopped, her eyes growing big and her face getting red. Then to Lotte's surprise Akko suddenly turned and started violently shaking her by the shoulders. "Lotte! You've got to help me! I think… I think…" she broke away from Lotte and started pacing back and forth. She then turned back to Lotte, eyes wild with panic, "I think I might have a crush on Diana." Lotte's mouth fell open at the revelation. _She did it, she actually admitted it_ Lotte thought to herself, but then turned her attention back to Akko who was about to start yanking chunks of her hair out.

"Akko, I need you to calm down okay." Lotte said, reaching out her hand once again placing it on Akko's shoulder. Akko looked up, the panic in her eyes subsiding a little, "Now tell me, is this why you want to go all out with this dress thing? To catch Diana's attention?" Akko nodded, Lotte noticed the other girl was slightly trembling, "Are you okay?" Akko looked around them for a little bit before settling her gaze back onto Lotte. She started to twiddle her fingers.

"Yeah," Akko said, "it's just that I actually admitted it out loud and it kind of scared me a little." Lotte gave her a reassuring smile.

"It's okay Akko," she said, "You can tell me anything, you don't have to be scared when you want to tell me something."

"You don't think it's weird or anything?" Akko asked.

"What would I think is weird?" Lotte asked.

"You know," Akko looked around, leaning in and lowering her voice, "a girl having a crush on another girl." Lotte's eyes widened at the statement, but then she started giggling.

"No, I don't have a problem with that at all." Lotte said, "Plus I am the biggest shipper of Edgar and Arthur in _Nightfall._"

"But that's fiction though," Akko pointed out, "not real life."

"It doesn't matter if it's real life or fiction Akko. People like who they like so why should I think it's weird." Akko was silent for a minute contemplating Lotte's words, "Now if you want, we can still search for the dress that will make you so beautiful that you will impress Diana for sure." This got Akko's attention and she eagerly jumped at the dress rack, filing through them.

"Oh, and Lotte?" Akko said after a while getting the other girl's attention, "Thank you. And can we keep this a secret for now? I don't want Sucy or Amanda teasing me about it."

"Sure Akko." Lotte replied, then she went back to filing through the dresses, then stopped at one that caught her eye. "What about this one?" she pulled the dress off the rack showing the other girl, who's eyes widened and looked the dress up and down and her face broke into a huge grin.

"This is perfect Lotte." She said. After making sure it fit, the girls went to the counter to purchase it. Then after leaving the shop, they made their way back to the ley line terminal.

Chariot was sitting at her desk, as newspapers and graded assignments littered the surface. She was pouring over the open text of the tome about the Nine Olde Witches and writing a letter. Alcor sat upon his perch, looking at his mistress with a stern look upon his face, or one would think so from the old crow.

"We don't really know what's going on, but since the rebirth of magic, more and more incidents have been reported." Chariot said to no one in particular, "But if what Rhiannon told the girls was true, then…" She paused in her writing, glancing at the most recent headline: _Manticore Attacks Syrian Town: First Sighting Since The Persian Era_. "We have to keep a constant vigilance." She signed the letter and turned to Alcor who cocked his head to the side. She tied the letter to his foot and nodded in as if the two were having a silent conversation. The crow took off through the opening into the night. She turned to the open tome on her desk, her eyes finding the words to the second song.

"I hope you can provide some insight to this," Chariot whispered, "but for now I'll do some more research, and maybe try to find some answers from Rhiannon myself."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"All of you are going to Ireland this weekend?" Chariot asked Akko as the other witch continued casting the spell they were working on. It was one of their early morning training sessions to work on Akko's magic skills.

"Yeah, Amanda's family is throwing some sort of party or something. We'll be leaving after classes today." Akko said, then continued to practice the growing spell on the aloe vera plant in the middle of the room trying to make it grow. Chariot was pensive for a moment, as she glanced back at her desk at the newspapers that have been stacked neatly on the desk, although Akko didn't notice.

"That sounds like fun." Chariot finally said after a while, "Are you excited?" Akko turned from her spell casting with bright eyes and a smile.

"Yes!" Akko beamed, clutching her wand to her chest as she bounced up and down, "It's the first party I've actually been invited to since coming to Luna Nova! I wonder what it's going to be like, I bet there's going to be cake. Oh! Maybe they'll have one of those chocolate fountain things…" Akko started going off on a tangent and Chariot couldn't help but hide a chuckle behind her hand at her student's antics, but then she said something that caught Chariot completely off guard, "I'm sure that I'm going to impress Diana. I'll ask her to dance and it's going to be so magical…"

"So, you want to impress Diana huh?" Chariot smiled in amusement and Akko immediately stopped talking with a gulp and started rubbing the back of her neck and giggling nervously, a blush appearing on her face.

"Did I just say that out loud?" Akko said, nervously looking her teacher in the eye. Chariot nodded in response, an amused look still in her eye, "Ah man. I didn't mean to say that last part." She averted her eyes away from Chariot, looking over to the plant that sat in the middle of the room forgotten. Chariot gestured over to her desk where they would usually sit.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Chariot asked, and Akko took a seat on the stool. As Chariot settled down in the seat across from her Akko immediately started talking.

"Well I just found out that the feelings that I've been having towards Diana have been because I kind of have a crush on her. I went dress shopping with Lotte the other day and that's when I found out. And I've been kind of figuring it out." She looked away from Chariot, fixing her gaze on an inkwell sitting on the desk.

"Can you tell me what kind of feelings you've been having towards Diana?" Chariot asked, her concern flashing behind her glasses.

"Well, when I look at Diana," Akko started, holding a finger to her chin and looking at the ceiling as if trying to find the right words, "I feel like I have butterflies in my stomach. And when she looks at me, my heart starts racing, and I can't think straight." Chariot nodded in acknowledgement of Akko's words. She looked over to the picture of her and Croix that was now framed on the wall. Many years ago, she had experienced the same feelings Akko was now currently going through. She turned her attention back to Akko.

"You know, I've gone through something similar like you." Chariot started, Akko perked up at the statement and leaned forward in her seat with eager anticipation.

"Really?" Her eyes were bright, and Chariot chuckled at the response.

"Yes," she responded, "Although unlike you, I didn't have a professor to talk to about it. It was scary at first and I soon came to accept it."

"Did you tell the person that you had a crush on?" Akko asked.

"Yes, I did." Chariot looked away back at the photo, a sad nostalgia filling her mind at the memory, "And they did feel the same way towards me. But, enough about me, let's talk about you and Diana." She turned her attention back to Akko, who was also looking at the photograph, "Are you going to tell her?" Akko looked down to the floor, her hands pressed into her thighs.

"I want to," Akko said, "but I don't want to ruin our friendship if she doesn't feel the same way. I don't know if she even likes girls." Chariot nodded with understanding at her student's words.

"Even if she doesn't feel the same as you do, I'm sure she won't stop being your friend because of it." Chariot said, "I don't think Diana is the kind of person to do that sort of thing." Akko looked up at Chariot, hope in her eyes at the prospect.

"You really think so?" Akko asked. Chariot nodded, and stood up, Akko following close behind her as she walked over to the aloe vera plant.

"And Akko, since you are going to Ireland this afternoon, I want all of you to take your familiars with you." Chariot said, her back turned to Akko.

"Okay, but I don't know how Odin is going to fit on a bus." Akko pointed out. Chariot turned around to face her.

"There is a spell that I can show you if you want." Chariot offered, and of course Akko nodded her head eagerly, "But first I need you to call Odin in here." Chariot waved her wand and the window to the observatory opened up. Akko walked up the stairs and took a deep breath, placing her hands on either side of her mouth like a makeshift megaphone, she let out a long drawn out "AWWOOOOOO!" A minute later the winged wolf flew into the observatory, landing on the first level next to Chariot. He turned towards Akko, who made her way back down the stairs.

"You called for me Akko?" Odin said, sitting back on his haunches.

"Professor Chariot is going to show a spell to us for when we go to Ireland today." Akko explained, "You'll be able to fit on the bus ride, and we won't get separated." Odin's ears pricked forward in interest at this. He looked over to Chariot who was readying her wand.

"Alright Odin, I'm going to cast this spell on you to demonstrate to Akko how this works since Alcor is not present at the moment." Chariot explained, Odin bowed his head giving his permission for her to cast the spell. Chariot raised her wand and said "_Umbrameafiet._" Odin dissolved and merged with Chariot's shadow. Akko stared wide eyed as the winged wolf was no longer standing in front of her. She then started bouncing up and down eagerly.

"Can I try?" she asked, and Chariot smiled.

"Now now," she said, "I have to show you how to perform the counter spell in order to rematerialize Odin so that you can try it." Chariot readied her wand again and said "_Separatus abumbra._" Odin's form separated from Chariot's shadow and swirled around, then as if he never left the winged wolf was once again sitting in the middle of the room. He shook his head and blinked at Akko.

"That was quite the trip." He said, "I felt like I was vacuum sealed." Akko patted his head reassuringly, and he wagged his tail in response.

"Alright, I'm going to try it now." Akko said. It was about the tenth try of the spell that she finally succeeded in casting the spell. Akko danced around in a little circle, and she looked at Chariot with a radiant smile on her face. "I did it professor! I didn't have to do it a hundred times to cast it either!"

"Good job Akko!" Chariot beamed, "You are improving more and more every day. Now, try doing the counter spell." And it took a few more attempts at the counter spell before Akko finally managed to cast it as well. And once Odin rematerialized, Akko crushed him in a hug. Then the girl and wolf bid Chariot farewell as they headed out of her office, Akko through the door, Odin through the window. Chariot gathered her materials for that day's lesson and left her office as well.

"I can't wait!" Akko said as she bounded toward the ley line terminal. Lotte and Sucy followed behind her along with Odin and the other two familiars, "We're even the first ones here!" they sat their overnight bags down and sat down on a nearby bench. Lotte broke out the latest version of _Nightfall _and began to read and Sucy got up to search the terminal for mushrooms. Akko held her broom in her hands and attempted to twirl it around with little success as she kept dropping it. After what seemed to be her twentieth attempt, Akko caught sight of Diana, Hannah, and Barbra making their way up the hill. Akko straightened up, and hastily brushed off any possible dust and stood at attention like a soldier. Lotte and Sucy watched the display and exchanged a look. Odin tilted his head but said nothing and turned his attention to the newcomers who now had reached them. Akko noticed while Diana carried an overnight bag like the rest of them, Hannah and Barbra were levitating about ten suitcases each.

"It seems like O'neal and the others aren't here yet." Diana observed as she regarded Lotte and Sucy, then turned her gaze to Akko, who was still standing stiff. She raised a brow, but said nothing, and took the empty seat next to Lotte while Barbra took the sat down on the other side of Lotte and the two immediately started talking about the latest plot developments in _Nightfall. _Sucy continued her mushroom hunting and Hannah brought out a nail file and began to file her nails. Diana looked over to Akko who was standing next to her, and Diana noticed that she had relaxed her stance and had taken to picking stray strands out of the end of her broom. Diana watched as her fingers would gently pull any stray bits of dust bunnies without damaging the broom's bristles. Her gaze wandered up to Akko's face, her red eyes focused on the task she was performing. _This look is so much different than the one she usually has in class when she practices_, to Diana it was calmer somehow, not as intense and soon she was immersed in them.

"Umm, Diana are you alright?" Akko asked, startling Diana out of her reverie. Diana felt a slight warmth rise in her cheeks as she realized she was caught staring. She turned her head away and cleared her throat, avoiding Akko's curious look.

"I'm quite alright Akko." She looked over to the others, and silently thanked the stars above for them not noticing the awkward exchange. "I see you brought Odin along, as well as Lotte and Sucy brought along their familiars as well."

"Yeah, Professor Chariot said that we should bring them along." Akko said, rubbing the back of her neck, "She even showed me a spell that lets Odin become a part of my shadow." Diana looked at Akko curiosity in her eyes.

"_Umbrameafiet _I presume?" Diana asked and Akko nodded her head eagerly in confirmation leaning down closer to the heiress.

"It only took me ten tries, but I managed to do it." Akko said, a smile spread across her face and fire burning in her eyes. "Do you wanna see me cast it?" A small smile made its way onto Diana's face as she looked up at the excited brunette.

"Yes, I would love to." Diana answered and Akko bounded over to Odin, who raised his head up and Diana walked over to the two.

"Ready Odin?" Akko asked and the wolf nodded his head, "Alright. _Umbrameafiet._" And almost immediately, Odin dissolved into Akko's shadow. Akko looked over expectantly at Diana who was smiling at the other girl's progress.

"That was very well done Akko." Diana said, "You have improved greatly." At this Akko looked like she had literal stars in her eyes at Diana's praise, and Diana could feel a fluttering in her chest as her heartbeat started to speed up. They kept looking each other in the eye, and when they realized what they were doing, they both looked away with slight blushes on their faces.

"So," Akko said, "are you excited about this party thing we've been invited to?"

"I'm intrigued by it." Diana said, and upon noticing Akko's head tilt she continued "I've been to my fair share of social functions such as these, but they've mostly been to make social connections among different families. You've seen of course from the party the Hanbridges threw that you decided to crash." Akko nodded in understanding.

"Sounds pretty boring." Akko said, crossing her arms.

"It really is," Diana confirmed, tucking a strand of platinum blonde behind her ear, "I don't really understand why you three decided to crash it. but it did make for an interesting evening though, even though you decided to let that ridiculous cupid bee loose." Akko stamped her foot at that last remark.

"I didn't release it! It was Sucy who did!" Akko retorted. Diana shrugged in response with a coy smile.

"Really now?" Diana asked, taking a step closer to Akko who didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah." Akko replied with a huff.

"We'll let the topic of who released the cupid bee be a topic for another day. But there is something that I do want to ask you." Diana said, who had taken another step toward Akko, and Akko had begun to register how close Diana had gotten to her. Though it wasn't a questionable closeness that would raise suspicion from the others in the group, but close enough to cause a heat from a blush to form as Akko gulped.

"What did you want to ask me?" Akko said, her voice a slight pitch higher than what it usually was.

"Well I was-" but Diana was cut off as the booming voice of Amanda as she and Jasminka and Constanze crested the hill.

"Sorry we're late guys." Amanda began, shrugging her overnight bag off of her shoulder and placing the straps onto her broomstick. "We would have been here sooner, but Finnelan decided to give us a lecture or whatever we supposedly did this time."

"We'll talk about this later." Diana said, taking a couple steps back from Akko, "In private." Then she walked over to where her overnight bag and broom were placed neatly by the bench. Akko readied her own broom, as she walked over to join the rest of the girls.

"Why are you two lugging around so many suitcases?" Amanda asked Hannah and Barbra, "We're literally going to be gone for two days, you didn't need to bring your whole wardrobe with you."

"We don't know what kind of event this is going to be, so we have to be prepared." Hannah retorted, arms crossed.

"Yeah, a girl has to have options." Barbra added, her hands placed on her hips. Amanda shook her head in exasperation, then she turned to the rest of the girls.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Amanda asked and everyone responded with a nod of their head. Hannah and Barbra cast a spell to shrink their suitcases into a manageable size before strapping them to their brooms. When they were done everyone took flight and flew through the opening to the ley line. When the ley line opened again, they came to a steep cliffside jutting out of the ocean. Right away Akko noticed a constant breeze as the salty sea air greeted her. The land was open and green and the buildings of the small town in the distance were made of a white stone that stood stark like dry bones against the green countryside. They landed in the town square which was merely the widest spot between the white stone buildings and aside from a few curious glances from the town's residents it was business as usual in the town.

"The bus stop should be this way." Amanda gestured to the west and they made their way down the street. Akko looked around at the buildings, noting the age of them as most of them looked as if they had seen better days. There were a few cracks in the walls, but they were obviously taken care of. _This must be an older town_ Akko thought. Soon, they came to the last building on the street with a sign indicating that this was the bus station and in front of it was a dark stained wooden bench.

The bus ride to the O'Neal residence was quite uneventful as the bus took them through wide open countryside, and many fields that had lots of sheep herds. Soon, the landscape became more wooded and wild, and the late afternoon sun painted a mosaic across Akko's sleeping face. After looking out excitedly at the landscape before her, the excitement wore her out and now she was sleeping against Diana's shoulder. Though Diana didn't mind the close contact, in fact she was relishing the moment, but she was constantly sending death looks over at Amanda's teasing smirks. Lotte and Sucy were also asleep, as well as Hannah and Barbra. Jasminka was looking out at the scenery as Constanze tinkered with a new invention.

"So," Amanda began, avoiding Diana's death glares "I see you are enjoying your cuddle buddy over there."

"Not another word O'Neal." Diana growled in a low voice, "She is not my 'cuddle buddy'." Amanda rolled her eyes and examined her nails.

"Whatever." Amanda replied, "Deny it all you want, but you can't hide it forever." Amanda leveled her gaze at the other girl, who stared back unamused.

"I absolutely have no idea what you're talking about." Diana turned away from Amanda and faced forward, not giving the American the satisfaction of flustering her. At that moment, Akko decided to snuggle her face into Diana's shoulder more, which in and itself caused the heat in Diana's face to rise and her heart to flutter. _Damn it Akko, why did you have to go and do this now?_ Diana blinked a few moments and cautiously looked over to where Amanda was seating. Diana glared at her as the other girl was grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

"What was I saying?" Amanda teased as Diana heaved a defeated sigh. "Well, now that's out of the way, you know that our little agreement will surely get Akko's attention." Amanda leaned back in her seat victorious.

"I don't understand how this agreement will impress Akko." Diana stated, "I feel like this whole thing would be quite embarrassing." She quickly looked over to Akko who was still sleeping peacefully, "I'm afraid that I'll make a fool of myself." She added in a low voice admiring the peaceful expression on Akko's face. She reached up to brush a stray strand of hair from the brunette's face but caught herself before she could do so. She didn't want to wake her up, not yet.

"Listen Diana." Amanda prompted the other girl's attention, "You're not going to make a fool of yourself. You are the top witch in the school, and you're confident in your abilities as a witch. Think of this as one of your magic exams, and you'll do great." Amanda stretched in her seat and leaned back on her overnight bag. She took out her orb and started browsing the witch net, leaving Diana alone in her thoughts. She turned back to Akko, a small smile forming on her lips as she watched the sleeping girl. The smile on her face grew as she saw Akko's nose twitch like a little rabbit. She basked in the warmth radiating from the sleeping girl, leaning closer into it and the scent of citrus, closing her eyes. Soon her head was resting on the top of Akko's, and the brunette snuggled in closer, though Diana didn't mind one single bit.

The airbrakes of the bus startled Diana out of her nap. And she looked around in a bewildered state, though Akko didn't seem to stir.

"Looks like we're here." Amanda said, pointing down a dirt road that lead to what appeared to be a clearing in the trees. Diana looked and upon closer inspection, there were a few stone buildings, but what really caught Diana's attention was the stone tower that jutted into the sky.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

"Akko," Diana whispered as she gently shook the sleeping girl's shoulder, "Akko wake up." Akko stirred and sat up yawning. She stretched her arms out, then took note of her surroundings. She was still on the bus she noted but it wasn't moving anymore. The sun was beginning to set, and she and Diana were the only ones still on the bus. Diana was already standing in the aisle, holding Akko's overnight bag out to her. Akko took it and stood, following Diana off the bus where everyone else waited.

"Woah…" Akko breathed as she took in the sight before her. At the end of the dirt path before them was a meadow that a lazy flowing river flowed through and on its banks were a couple of very old, yet well taken care of farmhouses made of stone. And on the edge of the property was a stone tower jutting into the sky. Though it wasn't as tall and grand as the towers at Luna Nova, it was still impressive nonetheless. To Akko, it reminded her of the tower in the fairy tale "Rapunzel".

"It looks like we're not the first ones to arrive." Diana pointed out, and everyone noticed that in the meadow were numerous people wandering about, most of them everyone noted, had the same red and pink colored hair as Amanda.

_Akko_, a voice in Akko's head made her jump.

"What was that?" Akko said, looking around in a panic, the rest of the group giving her curious looks.

_It's me Odin. Can you please let me out of your shadow now? I'm getting a little cramped in here._ Akko calmed a little and let out a relived giggle at her foolishness.

"Oh yeah, sure thing." Akko brought out her wand, "_Separatus abumbra."_ And the winged wolf leaped out of her shadow and landed in front of the group and unfurled his wings in a stretch before shaking himself off. However, the sudden appearance of the wolf caught the attention of the farm's residents.

"DANGER!" came a male voice, "EVERYONE ATTACK!"

"SHIT!" Amanda said, getting ready to intercept as everyone took out their wands, but the attackers didn't seem to notice her as they were too focused on Odin. The attackers took to their brooms and started firing spells at the wolf. On reflex everyone cast a shielding spell, but Odin seemed to ignore the shield cast around him and instead unfurled his wings in annoyance. He let out a low growl and almost instantly unleashed a powerful gust of wind with a single flap of his wings. Caught off guard by this counterattack, the offending witches and wizards were knocked off their brooms and crashed to the ground. Thankfully they weren't up in the air high enough to sustain any damage. Amanda stomped forward past Odin and stared daggers at her offending relatives.

"WHAT GIVES GUYS!" Amanda roared, "YOU ALMOST KILLED MY FRIEND'S FAMILIAR! AND YOU COULD'VE HURT ONE OF US!" She gesticulated wildly, the blood rising in boiling rage in her face. Her relatives had stood up and watched in stunned silence at the furious teen. "YOU GUYS SAID I WAS THE RECKLESS ONE BUT LOOK AT YOU! WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY NOW, HUH? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY!"

"Amanda Fiona O'Neal that is quite enough out of you." Came an old and dignified voice from the back of the small group. The adults parted ways in stunned silence to reveal an old woman who was much shorter than them. To Akko, she looked like your typical old granny, long dress complete with shawl and silver white hair in a bun. She leaned on a wooden staff that was painted with a dark stain and was inlayed with a green jewel near the top where her hand rested. She wore glasses and behind them were striking green eyes that were similar to Amanda's and they had a sharp intelligence in them, as well as something else Akko couldn't identify but found familiar, something not quite human.

"Grandma Nessa?" Amanda said, shrinking back from the old woman who continued to look at her granddaughter sternly.

"That is no way to speak to your elders young lady." Nessa reprimanded, her voice even.

"But Grandma they-" Amanda started, but was cut off by Nessa who raised her hand to silence her.

"I am very aware of what they did Amanda, but it is not your place to show disrespect like that." Amanda grumbled crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. Nessa didn't notice or ignored the action and rounded on the remaining family members. "AND ALL OF YOU ARE NOT OUT OF THE WOODS YET!" She brandished her staff and proceeded to conk all of the offending witches and wizards on the head, "HOW DARE YOU ATTACK AMANDA'S FRIENDS YOU BLOODY CUNTS! THEY'LL GO BACK TO LUNA NOVA THINKING WE'RE A BUNCH OF LOUTS!" Amanda and everyone else in the group stared slack jawed at the whole display. When Nessa was done and sent the adults away, she turned to Amanda and the rest of the group and gave an apologetic smile as she readjusted her glasses.

"I'm so sorry about that dears, I hope they didn't ruffle you up too bad." Nessa said, returning to her kind yet stern looking demeanor. Diana was the first to speak.

"That's quite alright Mrs. O'Neal. All of us have not sustained any injuries." At the words Nessa relaxed her posture and let out a sigh of relief.

"That is quite good news to hear. Now," She started walking back to the farmhouses, "Let me show you to where you'll be staying." They walked across a small bridge and into the farm yard. The yard was filled with people, many of them donning the same two toned hair as Amanda, and all of them regarded the newcomers curiously, but then went back to their tasks of setting up tents and catching up with other family members. A girl who was maybe a year younger than the group came bounding up to Amanda.

"Sis!" she squealed in delight as she threw her arms around Amanda, trapping her in a bear hug. She looked similar to Amanda, only shorter and had longer orange and salmon colored hair. Her eyes were also blue, and her face was covered in freckles.

"Heather," Amanda said, returning the hug, "You're here too."

"Of course I am silly." Heather batted her sister's arm, "All of the family is here. I haven't even met some of these people."

"Huh, now that you mention it I haven't seen a few of these people." Amanda observed.

"We have a large extended family dears." Mrs. O'Neill said. "We have a special gathering taking place tomorrow."

"What is it?" Heather asked, dancing around Mrs. O'Neill. "What are we gathering for?"

"You'll see tomorrow." Mrs. O'Neill answered before she stopped at a large tent at the edge of the tree line, "You'll all be staying here, unless Amanda wishes to stay with her parents and her sister that is."

Amanda groaned in response before entering the tent without another word. Mrs. O'Neill turned to the rest of the girls with a smile on her face.

"If you all need anything, you can let anyone of us know." She then headed off to the middle of the farmyard in the direction of the tower. The girls and Odin entered the tent, and to Akko's surprise, it was quite spacious inside. While it seemed like a standard military tent outside, inside was like a small house, complete with kitchen and bathroom.

"This place even has a fridge?" Akko exclaimed, making a beeline over to it and opening the door, finding it empty. She slammed it with a huff, "It's not even stocked."

"This is a pretty standard magical tent." Diana pointed out, setting her overnight bag next to the far wall, "Some tents are even larger and have their own separate bedrooms."

"You know, you could really use this as your own starter apartment." Amanda said, already lounging on the couch in the center of the room.

"Someone could easily break in though," Hannah pointed out as she and Barbra enlarged their mountain of suitcases, levitating them next to Diana's overnight bag.

"Yeah, so it wouldn't be practical." Barbra added. Amanda shrugged and continued lounging.

"While you guys argue over tent real-estate, I'm going to search the woods for mushrooms." Sucy said, walking back through the tent flap. Everyone watched her go, and they decided to split up and explore the farm itself. Akko rode on Odin's back, the light from the sunset casting long shadows on the ground below.

"Let's go to the tower." Akko said, and Odin turned towards the structure, gently flapping his wings as he came to a landing on the tower's roof. Akko leaned forward, resting her head on top of Odin's as she admired the view of the gleaming river cutting through the forest. A few people, including Diana and her group were at the riverbank walking the length of it. They looked like ants from her vantage point, and Akko watched Diana's platinum blonde hair glow in the light of the setting sun. She saw the other girl turn in the direction of the tower, looking up at Akko and Odin. Akko's heart clenched in her chest, and she looked away with a sad sigh. Odin pricked up his ears and turned to look at the girl on his back.

"Is something wrong Akko?" Odin asked, tilting his head at Akko's forlorn expression.

"It's nothing Odin." Akko mumbled, she stole a quick glance back at Diana, who had now turned away, "Nothing at all." Odin let out a sigh, his ears pinning against his head briefly.

"Is it about Diana?" Akko remained silent, though Odin could see her face changing a couple shades darker, "I thought you were ready to impress her with your charms." Akko looked up to meet the wolf's gaze at that.

"I mean, yeah, I want to but…" Akko trailed off, looking down, fiddling with Odin's fur.

"You're scared." Odin didn't look at Akko for a reaction, instead looking over the farmyard below, "She's not going to bite you. You know that right?"

"Yeah I know she won't." Akko groaned, burying her face in the nape of Odin's neck, "She just makes me nervous. I don't know what to say around her. She's smart, she's great at magic. I know that she lost her power like me, but she worked really hard to get it back. She even helps me with my homework sometimes. I know I'll mess it up if I do something stupid. I don't want to lose her."

Odin listened, processing the girl's words, he turned his head back to look at Akko. An idea seemed to pop into his head.

"You know, maybe you wouldn't be so nervous around her if you spent more time with her." This made Akko's head shoot up as she gave Odin an incredulous look.

"You can't be serious." Akko scoffed.

"Isn't that how you humans choose mates?" Akko started turning red at that statement and averted her gaze, "You spend time together getting to know each other better?" Akko mulled over the wolf's words before turning back to him.

"You have a point." Akko grumbled. Odin let a smile show, his tongue leaving his mouth in a pant.

"Alright, tomorrow you're going to spend it with Diana. Get to know her better, maybe you won't be so nervous to dance with her at the party." Odin could feel Akko begin to tremble, the tangy scent of nervousness radiating off her, but she gulped it down and smiled confidently.

"Alright, I'll do it!"

"That a girl!" The conversation was cut short at the sound of a door slamming below them. The two exchanged a look before continuing to listen.

"Oh, Nessa, I've been looking everywhere for you." Came a man's voice.

"What is it Liam?" came the voice of Amanda's grandma.

"Are you sure we're a hundred percent ready for the ceremony tomorrow night?" Liam asked.

"Yes, the skins are ready, the chalice has been polished to a shine, and the binding potion is complete." Nessa listed, "Is there anything else that we've forgotten?"

"No ma," Liam said, "It's just that… there's a strange feeling in the air. Something's not right."

"Now that you mention it, there has been a feeling of darkness on the horizon." Nessa said, "But the ceremony will take place tomorrow. It's been tradition for thousands of years."

The sound of the door shutting signaled the end of the conversation as Akko and Odin sat in silence for a few moments.

"I think we should tell the others." Akko said.

"So, some sort of ceremony is going to happen?" Amanda said as they all processed Akko's account of what she overheard. They all sat in the sitting room of the tent, with Odin keeping watch at the tent flap.

"And there's some sort of binding potion involved. That is interesting, although we don't exactly know what kind of binding we're talking about here." Diana said, rubbing a finger over her chin.

"What do you mean?" Akko asked, scratching her "Aren't all binding potions the same?"

"No." Sucy replied, "They're not." Everyone, with the exception of Diana, looked at Sucy with curiosity. "Some binding potions act like glue and you can fix different magical objects. Others bind the soul of the user with either a magical object or another living thing."

"Wait what?" Akko interjected, jumping up from the couch "That's actually a thing?"

"Yes Akko." Diana said, "Binding potions can create an artificial bond between souls of living things. It functions similarly to how the bond with your familiar works. With these properties, they are quite popular among some witches when they get married."

"Yeah, that happened in volume 150 in Nightfall. Victoria, Edward's sister used one when she married Clarence." Lotte said as she began to swoon, "It was so romantic! It was the ultimate symbol of their everlasting love and unbreakable bond."

"Hey Amanda," Barbra said, the red head looking up at her, "Is anyone in your family getting married?"

"No, I haven't heard anything." Amanda said with a shrug, "Maybe Heather knows something, since she actually talks to the rest of my family."

"Maybe we can ask her." Akko suggested, everyone nodded in agreement. Amanda stood up and headed toward the tent flap.

"I'll ask her at dinner tonight." Amanda said before walking out of the tent.

About an hour later, the girls were lured out by the tantalizing scent of cooked lamb. In the yard there were long wooden tables set up and everyone was mingling about, sitting at the tables, or waiting for their turn in the food line. Odin had disappeared into the woods earlier to hunt down his own dinner. When Akko had gotten to the front of the food line, she saw that there was a giant pot of hearty lamb stew. Akko's mouth watered as she breathed in the freshly seasoned lamb mixed in a dark broth with chunks of potatoes and carrots. She took a heaping bowl full and slowly walked to where the others were sitting at the end of the middle table. She sat her bowl down next to Diana and proceeded to sit. They saw Amanda sit down at the table across the aisle with Heather and who Akko assumed to be her parents. There seemed to be idle chitchat between them, though there was nothing of importance being discussed.

"Akko don't stare, it'll raise suspicion." Diana said before she took a dainty spoonful of the broth. Akko immediately looked down at her own bowl and started eating the stew. There was a silence between the group as they ate. Once every so often they would glance at Amanda and the conversation taking place at her table. Diana made a sideways glance at Akko, who had inhaled the stew and now sat in silence.

"You've been quiet this evening." She observed, causing Akko to jump a little in her seat, "Is something wrong?" Akko looked up at Diana, like she was a deer caught in headlights. _Why does she always know that? _Diana raised a brow but didn't say a word. Akko's face relaxed into a shy smile as she looked away from Diana's inquiring gaze.

"No, nothing's wrong." Akko looked back at Diana, her gaze softening as she smiled. Diana's expression seemed to soften as well, the firelight of the lanterns dancing in her blue eyes made Akko's heart flutter, and the softness of the light causing her hair to glow like a halo. "Um, would you want to hang out with me tomorrow?" Akko asked, a hopeful smile on her face, "We could explore around the farm, or we could ride Odin and see what around here looks like from the air." Diana remained silent for a moment an unreadable expression on her face, Akko's heart racing in her chest as her palms became cold and clammy. Then Diana smiled, the smile reaching her eyes, her whole posture relaxing.

"I would like that." Diana replied, her voice quiet as if to not raise attention to their conversation.

An hour or so later, they all gathered in the privacy of their shared tent. Odin, as usual, kept watch at the front tent flap for any signs of possible eavesdroppers. Everyone except Amanda sat around in a circle, leaning forward in anticipation. Amanda rubbed her neck and let out a sigh, regarding the witches before her.

"No one is getting married, so that's out." Amanda said, and everyone exchanged looks. "And Heather has no idea as to what's going on as well. My parents wouldn't say anything either. They said we didn't need to know until it's time." She sat down on one of the arms of the couch and started running her hands through her hair.

"What do we do now?" Akko said, breaking the silence, "And this whole secret keeping is getting weird." She crossed her arms and sank deeper into the couch cushions.

"Maybe we can search around for clues." Lotte suggested as she pushed her glasses back into place, "I can even ask some of the spirits around here about this. Maybe they know something."

"You know that wouldn't be such a bad idea." Amanda said, lifting her head up, "We'll split into groups and tomorrow we'll search around."

"Alright, since that has been decided," Diana stood and headed for the bathroom, "I'm going to get ready for bed, and I recommend you all do so as well." She shut the flap of the bathroom leaving everyone in silence.

Later that night found Akko staring up at the tent's ceiling. Everything was silent except for the sounds of everyone's slow and steady breathing of sleep. She wished she could join that peaceful chorus; except she was alert and jittery. She rolled onto her side, facing everyone's sleeping forms, and tried to get comfortable. Even Odin was fast asleep at the tent's door. A rustling caught Akko's attention, glancing up she saw one of the other girls sit up. Akko lay still, watching as the figure got out of her sleeping bag, movements catlike as she silently padded to the tent flap. The moonlight streaming in through the opening revealed the platinum blonde tresses of Diana's hair. It almost looked white in this light, and Akko's breath hitched in her chest as Diana stepped out into the night. Curious, Akko sat up, looked around to make sure everyone else was asleep and got up herself. She found Diana sitting outside the tent on a large rock. She seemed to be looking up at the moon, a waxing gibbous if Akko remembered the phase correctly. Akko slowly approached her, watching her step as to not startle the other girl, and sat down next to her.

"I thought you would have been asleep Akko." Diana said as she turned her attention to the other girl.

"I couldn't fall asleep." Akko shrugged, "But I thought you were asleep because you were gung-ho about us going to bed at a decent hour." Akko fixed an accusatory look at Diana, though there was a hint of playfulness in her crimson eyes. Diana shrugged in a nonchalant manner and returned her gaze to the moon above.

"I only did that because O'Neill would have started getting rambunctious and caused trouble." Diana said, Akko gave a slight nod in reply, turning her gaze back to the moon. The two sat in a comfortable silence for a while as they listened to the distant gurgling of the river. A slight breeze started to pick up, causing a rustle in the trees.

"Do you think we'll find anything tomorrow?" Akko asked, breaking the silence, though she kept her gaze on the moon. Diana looked over at Akko and she remained silent for a moment.

"I'm not sure if we'll find anything myself." Diana said, "However, that doesn't mean that we won't."

"Where should we look?" Akko asked, tapping a finger to her chin, "There could be anything anywhere."

"If anything, I think we should look in the woods," Diana pointed out, "Though it's not the best decision, the chances of finding something in there are greater than finding something out here in the open."

"Plus we'll take Odin with us." Akko said, "He can help keep us safe if we get into trouble." Diana's face became pensive at the suggestion.

"That is actually a really good idea, Akko." She praised, causing Akko to beam. Diana looked pensive for a moment before taking a deep breath, a sly smile creeping up onto her face, "Oh, Akko, I just remembered that I still had a question for you."

"You did?" Akko said, tilting her head as she regarded the other girl.

"Yes," Diana was still looking at the moon, "What was it that you were dreaming that caused you to repeat my name over and over in your sleep. I do believe that's what Sucy said the other day when Amanda got her letter." She then turned her gaze onto Akko.

Akko's heart was racing and she was sure that steam was coming out of her ears with how hot her face felt. She averted her gaze from Diana, though the other girl still had a mischievous teasing smile. _Stupid Diana, why did she have to do that? And when did she ever tease? _

"I was just teasing," Diana said after a few minutes, "I wasn't expecting you to answer that anyway."

"I didn't know you could tease." Akko grumbled, puffing her cheeks out in a pout.

Diana shrugged and turned her attention back to the moon as a comfortable silence settled between the two. The breeze picked up even more, Diana started to shiver and leaned forward as she clutched her arms in an effort to keep warm. Akko looked over at her concerned.

"Are you cold?" Akko asked, leaning forward to see Diana's face more clearly. Diana gave a slight nod. "If you want, we could go back inside where it's warmer."

"No, that's fine." Diana said, "I kind of want to stay out here… with you." She looked away at the last words, Akko unable to see the rising pink on Diana's face. Akko felt a slight heat rising up in her face, and her heart started racing.

"Oh… okay, um, I can go get a blanket real quick, and we- we can… stay out here." She rose from her spot and quickly but quietly rushed back into the tent and grabbed her favorite Shiny Chariot blanket from her sleeping spot and walked back out. During the time that she was gone, Diana had sat down on the grass and was leaning back against the rock. Akko sat down and draped the blanket over them. There was a bit of shuffling until their sides were pressed together and both were completely covered under the blanket's warmth.

"Are you warm enough?" Akko asked, her heart pounding madly in her chest at Diana's proximity.

"Yes." Diana whispered, "Thank you." Her head was leaning on the rock as she looked Akko in the eye, a small but shy smile on her face. Akko broke out into a sweat. She was drowning in that blue ocean, but she couldn't find it in her to look away. Her heart was hammering, pounding against her ribs like a trapped bird in a cage.

"You're… you're welcome." Akko said, her throat dry. Diana glanced down briefly, then back up to Akko's eyes. In the moonlight, she could see that Diana's face was slightly darker. She leaned toward Akko, her eyes slightly closed. Akko's breathing hitched at the movement.

"Diana," Akko whispered as Diana rested her head on Akko's shoulder, she caught the scent of lavender and mint from Diana's hair, "what are you doing?" Diana stiffened, and slowly raised her head back up. She looked away from Akko's curious gaze. Normally Diana was stoic and carried herself with a dignified pride that Akko wished she possessed, but right now she looked so different, so vulnerable.

"I'm so sorry Akko. I didn't mean to-"

"No." Akko stopped Diana's apology, "It's alright, I was just surprised that's all."

"Are you sure?" Diana asked, her blue eyes uncertain as if she were a horse that was learning to show jump. Akko lifted her hands, wrapping them around Diana, one on the back of her head and one around her waist. She guided Diana back to where she originally rested.

"Yeah," Akko whispered into Diana's soft hair, "I'm sure." Diana shifted her weight and burrowed into the crook of Akko's neck, she lightly rested her hand on Akko's collarbone, fingering the fabric of Akko's night shirt. Akko's started to run her fingers through Diana's silky hair, breathing in the scent of lavender and mint.

"Diana?" Akko whispered, sure that the other girl could hear her heart hammering and feel her slight tremble in her body despite the shared warmth of the blanket.

"Hmm?" Diana lifted her head slightly as Akko looked at her.

"Is your heart pounding like mine is?" Akko said, unconsciously holding Diana closer to her as she tightened her grip.

"Yes," Diana whispered back, her grip on Akko's shirt tightening slightly "It is."

"Do you… I mean, are you feeling the same thing as me?" Akko asked.

"If you mean that feeling where you want to get closer to someone, closer than you already are, to see a part of them they don't show to anyone else," Diana said wrapping her arms around Akko's neck and holding her as close as she could.

"That feeling where your heart races when they're near you and you start to blush, and your jittery," Akko breathed, Diana's eyes were shimmering in the moonlight "Is that what you're feeling?"

"Yes Atsuko," Diana said, "that is exactly what I'm feeling."

Akko smiled at the confession, though it was softer than her usual bright smiles. It was warm, gentle and full of adoration. Diana burrowed back into the crook of Akko's neck, Akko holding her tight but gentle, the moon their only witness.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Akko was awoken by the shuffling of weight on top of her. She cracked open an eye, and saw Diana sitting up from where she previously was lying on top of Akko's chest. Akko blinked a few times, confused as to why Diana was there until the memories of last night came back to her. Akko sat bolt upright, causing Diana to startle at the sudden movement.

"Careful, Akko," Diana said, "you almost hit me."

"I'm sorry." Akko's expression morphed into sad puppy eyes. "I didn't hurt you, did I?"

Diana smiled and took Akko's hand in hers, "No, you didn't hurt me." They sat there for a moment, the sun was about to rise and there was a calmness as the farmyard was still slumbering.

"The sun hasn't even risen yet." Akko stretched and she readjusted the blanket over them before she cuddled into Diana's side. She rested her head on Diana's shoulder. Diana turned to Akko, a small smile on her lips as she gave Akko's hand a squeeze.

"That's because I wanted to see the sun rise," Diana whispered, "if you want, you can watch it with me."

"I'd like that." Akko snuggled closer into Diana's side, causing the other girl to blush slightly, but she didn't complain. Diana rested her head on top of Akko's and turned her attention to the rising sun coming up over the horizon.

"Diana," Akko whispered.

"Yes, Akko?"

"Have you always watched the sunrise?"

Akko felt Diana smile, and she looked up to see Diana smiling with a nostalgic look in her eyes as she looked at the horizon.

"I guess I always have." She turned to look into Akko's eyes, "And I'm assuming you've always liked to sleep late." There was a teasing tone in her voice, and Akko decided to play along.

"All I did was ask," Akko said while she pouted and moved away from the warmth of Diana's side, "You don't have to roast me."

"I was only teasing, Akko," Diana said, "come here." She reached out and wrapped her arm around Akko's shoulder, guiding her back to her original spot. Akko let out a huff.

"Well, if you insist." Akko nestled back into Diana's side, inhaling her scent of lavender and mint. Diana kept her arm wrapped around Akko's shoulder. Akko intertwined her fingers with Diana's other hand, and they sat there basking in each other's warmth as the darkness of the night started to fade into shades of light pinks. As the sun started to rise, so was Amanda's family. Akko could make out the sounds of rustling blankets, and shuffling of feet within the many tents that occupied the farmyard. Diana shifted in her place and regarded Akko.

"We should return to the tent before anyone comes out here." Diana was going to get up but was stopped as Akko gripped her around the waist.

"Just five more minutes?" Akko started making the puppy eyes and Diana let out a sigh.

"Akko, we have to get ready for the day." Diana paused as if she were in thought, and a mischievous smirk formed on her lips, "And I thought you would have been ecstatic that we were going to spend the day together."

Akko's eyes widened as she remembered what she asked Diana the night before. Her heart started pounding with the excitement of the day.

"You're right, we should get ready." Akko stood up and pulled Diana to her feet. Akko grabbed her blanket and the two made their way back to the tent where their teammates were still asleep, all the while they never let go of each other's hands.

If Akko were more grateful that a meal didn't include potatoes, it was at that moment. They all sat together at one of the outside tables and Akko was inhaling the eggs and sausages that were on her plate.

"Slow down, Akko, you'll choke yourself." Diana took a sip of her tea and gave Akko a sideways glance. Akko gave her a flattened stare in return and continued to wolf down her food.

"So, I'll be snooping around my family today. Because whatever's going on tonight, there's bound to be some answers to this whole mystery." Amanda leaned on her elbow, "Constazne, Jasminka, you're with me."

"We'll search around too," Lotte said, "Sucy and I can search for old objects to see about the spirits inside."

"Maybe I can also find some more mushrooms to make poisons with too." Sucy cackled as she rubbed her hands together. Everyone leaned away from her at that.

"Barbara and I might be able to swindle some information from Amanda's family members," Hannah said.

"Yes, gossip is our specialty," Barbara added.

"I'm surprised you didn't join the journalism club with that attitude," Amanda said as she rolled her eyes.

Hannah let out a huff, "Oh please, I wouldn't go near the journalism club with a ten-meter pole."

"We only collect gossip, we don't publish it," Barbara said. Amanda just rolled her eyes at the remark.

"What about you, Cav? What are you going to do?" Amanda directed her attention to Diana.

"Well, Akko and I were going to take Odin and explore the woods. There might be some answers in there." Diana put her cup of tea down.

"Sure you are," Amanda muttered under her breath, a smirk graced her lips. Diana narrowed her eyes at the action but remained silent.

"Are we good to go then?" Akko said as she pushed away her now empty plate.

"Yes, we should get going." Diana dabbed her chin with her napkin and stood up. She picked up her plate and headed to the farmhouse kitchen. Everyone soon followed.

Amanda had placed her dirty plate on the already growing pile, and just as she started to walk back out, she was tapped on the shoulder. She turned around to see Heather.

"Grandma Nessa wanted us to help do the dishes, sis." She was smiling in a sickly-sweet innocent way, and Amanda groaned as she glared at the large pile of dishes. Jasminka and Constanze stayed behind to help her.

"So, how have things been, Amanda?" Heather handed her a dish to clean off and put away, "We haven't heard much from you."

"It's been the same old stuff, just a different day." Amanda handed the dry dish to Jasminka who put it in the top cabinet.

"Oh." Heather continued to wash the dishes, though a forlorn look crossed her face. "I bet school has been fun though. You have such great friends."

Amanda looked at her, an eyebrow raised in concern at Heather's somber tone. She exchanged a look with Constanze and Jasminka who shrugged.

"What's up Heather?" Amanda leaned forward to try to get a better look at Heather's face.

"It's nothing." Heather looked away, avoiding Amanda's attempts to look at her, "It's just, we never talk anymore."

The silence of the room was thick and heavy. Constanze and Jasminka shared a look, unsure if they should stay or go and let Amanda have a moment alone with her sister. Before they could do anything, Amanda spoke:

"If you want, we could hang out today." Amanda finished drying off a plate. "We were going to do some snooping around if you were interested in joining us."

"Snooping around for what?" Heather's eyes seemed brighter as she turned to Amanda.

"Oh, you know, the reason why we're here." Amanda shrugged, "I know we used to be an unstoppable duo when it came to troublemaking."

"That would be fun." Heather was smiling now, "It would be like old times."

"Yeah," Amanda chuckled, "like old times."

"Where do you think we should look first, Diana?" Akko, Diana, and Odin were flying over the woods that surrounded the area. They decided to fly along the river, but nothing seemed to stand out to any of them.

"We should try the woods on the north side." Diana pointed to a clearing in the trees, "They seem to be promising."

"Alright." Akko nodded, "Let's go Odin."

"Roger that," Odin said as he started to lean his body into a turn.

"Hang on," Akko said to Diana with a giggle.

Diana tightened her grip around Akko's waist and she squeezed her legs against Odin's sides. Diana wouldn't admit that she enjoyed the feeling of holding on to Akko tightly to anyone. They neared the ground of the clearing, and Odin came to a land.

"Stay on my back," Odin said as he pricked his ears forward at the sudden darkness of the woods before them, "We might need to escape quickly if we run into anything."

The girls pulled out their wands and scanned their surroundings as they made their way deeper into the woods. Soon the brightness of the sunlight was cut off from the thickness of the trees, causing a temporary night and a light fog swirled around them. These woods were nothing like Akko had seen, her wand light casting an eerie green glow along the bark of the trees. The Arcturus forest didn't seem to be this dark, and she had the constant feeling like something was watching her. She gulped down the rising fear in her throat and focused her mind on more comforting things. She focused on the movement of Odin's muscles, his breathing as he sniffed the air around them, how he swiveled his ears. She focused on Diana's hold on her waist, its comforting warmth, like a teddy bear protecting her from nightmares. Akko felt her heart flutter at the thought. She wanted to lean back into Diana's warmth, but she had a more important task to focus on. Something stood out in the corner of her eye.

"Hold on," Akko said, an Odin came to a stop.

"What is it?" Diana said, turning her attention back to Akko.

"Over there." Akko pointed to the right, and Diana followed her gaze. In the distance was something that looked like a statue.

"Let's get a closer look at that," Diana said. They made their way over to the statue and got a closer look at it. It was weathered and moss covered. The form was unmistakable, it was a wolf sitting on its haunches, its teeth bared. On its pedestal were Lunar Runes. Diana slid off of Odin's back to get a closer look at them.

"Here lies Laignech Fáelad of Ossory." Diana scrutinized the statue, walking around the statue's perimeter seeing if there was anything else engraved.

Akko looked around the forest clearing, and soon she saw other statues of wolves among the trees. Some were broken, some were perfectly intact. Yet one thing was certain about them, they were all in neat rows.

"Um, Diana," Akko started.

"Yes, Akko?" Diana peered around the edge of the statue.

"There's more of them." Akko pointed at the statues.

Diana walked up to Odin's side, examining the rows of statues before them.

"It seems to be an old cemetery from the Dark Ages." Diana scanned the area, "But, they're all wolf statues."

Before anything else could be said, Odin let out a low growl as he stared at something in the trees, "Let's get out of here. Something's here."

Akko pulled Diana up onto Odin's back, and the wolf turned and fled, taking flight after a few strides. From the edge of the trees, a dark shadow watched them go.

"What are we looking for?" Heather said as she balanced on Amanda's shoulders as she looked on top of their grandmother's wardrobe.

"Anything," Amanda said, "something's going on and they're not telling us about it."

"Akko overheard your grandma talking about something," Jasminka added as she looked for secret compartments hidden behind the vanity. Constanze nodded in confirmation as she pointed Stanbot to check under the bed.

"You think that it'll be here in her room?" Heather jumped down from Amanda's shoulders, "I think she would have a better hiding spot than that."

"You never know about Grandma Nessa," Amanda said, "She could be outsmarting us by hiding something in plain sight."

"Well, there's nothing in here." Heather shrugged, "Maybe we should check the barn next? They're holding the party in there tonight, and maybe there's something in there that can give us a clue."

"It's worth a shot. Let's go," Amanda said.

"Okay Cons, you got Stanbot ready?" They were outside the barn out of view from traffic, and due to the activity, it would have been too suspicious for all of them to be seen snooping around.

Constanze gave a nod and Stanbot was sent into the barn. They all watched the camera feed on Constanze's portable control pad. Stanbot maneuvered around the bustling feet of Amanda's relatives and focused his camera on anything that might be considered suspicious.

"Where should we send him first?" Amanda looked at Constanze for some sort of clue.

"Maybe the rafters?" Heather chimed in, "We can get a better look if we had a bird's eye view."

"Nice thinking, Heather," Amanda said, giving her a high five. "Cons, will you do the honors?"

Constanze nodded and imputed a command on the control panel. Inside the barn Stanbot configured its shape into a flat box with tiny propellers protruding from the top. It whirred to life and took flight over the crowd. They scanned the building.

"Oh, it looks like Hannah and Barbara are flirting with Linus when they should be getting information," Amanda grumbled as Stanbot's camera focused on the two witches in question talking to a lanky fellow.

"You're a big strong guy, how did you not get told about the main event?" Hannah's voice was sickly sweet.

"Oh, um, well." Linus backed away, rubbing the back of his neck as he let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, I don't see why they wouldn't entrust such special information to you," Barbara added, batting her eyelashes.

"Seriously, this is how they gossip?" Amanda groaned as she rolled her eyes and looked away from the camera feed, "It's disgusting."

"Are you alright, Amanda?" Heather looked at her with concern.

"Yeah, yeah," Amanda shrugged, "I'm fine."

Heather narrowed her eyes, then let out a sigh. She turned to Constanze and Jasminka who shrugged.

"Oh hey, there's your grandma," Jasminka said pointing at the screen. Amanda and Heather turned their attention back to the screen. Sure enough Nessa O'Neill was standing on the edge of the crowd, talking to Amanda's father.

"Zoom in Constanze," Amanda said. Constanze nodded and zoomed Stanbot's camera in.

"I see that Amanda and her friends have taken to exploring the farm," he said, "are you sure they won't find anything too suspicious?"

"Liam, you worry too much." Nessa waved her arms in a huff, "They won't find anything of great importance."

"I wouldn't be too sure," Liam said, "The many letters I've received from Luna Nova about Amanda breaking into various places on school grounds proves otherwise."

"She won't find out about the ceremony," Nessa said, "none of them will. It has been the tradition since Epona herself bestowed the task to Laignech Fáelad in the Middle Ages. She had made sure of that long ago." As she said that, it seemed to Amanda that Nessa had glanced briefly at Stanbot hovering above the crowd.

"Shit, she knows we're snooping," Amanda said with a sigh. "Constanze, reel Stanbot in."

Stanbot flew outside the barn and Constanze started to look it over for any repairs that needed to be done. Then with a flash of wind, Odin had landed in front of the group with Akko scrambling off of his back. Diana was much slower, and slid off of his back with more grace.

"Guys, guys, guys," Akko said, bouncing on her toes in excitement, "you won't believe what we found!"


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"You guys found what?" Amanda's jaw dropped at what Akko had told them. They were all gathered back in the tent.

"An old grave site in the middle of the woods," Akko said nodding her head in confirmation.

"Though it's not uncommon to find old cemeteries, the strange thing about this one is that all of the grave markers are wolves." Diana rubbed her chin in thought.

"When Sucy and I talked to some of the spirits around here, they wouldn't tell us anything," Lotte said. "They were ordered by the goddess Epona to not tell anyone back in the Dark Ages."

"Epona huh?" Diana started to pace around the small living space, her eyes scanning the floor as if she were trying to solve a complex puzzle.

"Wait, Grandma Nessa said something about Epona earlier," Amanda said.

"Yeah, she did," Heather, who had joined them in the meeting, added. "She said Epona entrusted a task to this Laignech Fáelad guy, whoever that is."

"Wait, Diana." Akko turned to Diana who stopped her pacing, "Wasn't that the name on the gravestone we saw?"

Diana stopped pacing, "You're correct, Akko, that was the name on the marker." She flipped a strand of hair out of her face, "What's rather unusual is Epona however."

"Why's that?" Akko asked, "From what you guys said, she's a goddess isn't she?"

"Well that is true, Akko," Lotte said, "but she's a horse goddess."

"And it's rather unusual for a graveyard to be filled with wolf statues rather than horse ones from what we've gathered," Diana said before she started to continue her pacing.

At that moment, Nessa O'Neill had entered through the tent flap. Everyone stopped talking and turned their heads to look at her, like cattle caught in the hay yard. Nessa herself, payed no heed to the looks she was receiving and instead smiled an innocent granny smile.

"You dearies should start getting ready for the party," she said, "You all are going to have such a wonderful time, and I hope you all will be surprised by the main event."

"What is the main event, Mrs. O'Neill, if you don't mind me asking," Diana said, her posture a little straighter than usual.

"Oh, it's going to be a surprise dearie, I can't spoil the fun for all of you." Everyone exchanged nervous glances but said nothing more.

"Why are you dearies looking like you're afraid that something's gonna eat you?" Nessa squinted her eyes, as the girls exchanged even more nervous stares, "Nothing bad is going to happen to you, so relax. There's going to be food and dancing, and it's going to be a grand time." And with that, Nessa walked out of the tent.

"Well, I guess we should start getting ready then," Heather said with a shrug.

"What do you think Barbara? The yellow or the red?" Hannah held up two dresses in front of Barbara, who was already wearing a midnight blue gown.

"I suggest the red. What do you think, Diana?" Hannah and Barbara turned to Diana, who was buttoning up the vest of her suit.

"The red is a good choice." Diana brushed off a nonexistent hair on her sleeve and turned around. Hannah and Barbara were looking at Diana like she were the Queen of England. Diana looked down at the navy blue suit she was wearing. "Um, it's not too over the top is it?"

"No!" They said at the same time. They scrambled forward, Hannah guiding Diana to sit down and Barbara taking a blue ribbon in her hands.

"You should wear suits more often," Barbara said as she tied Diana's hair into a low ponytail.

"Well, the only reason why I'm wearing this is because I made an agreement with Amanda to do so," Diana said, then she saw Hannah looking out of the temporary flap of the little room they made for themselves. "What are you looking at, Hannah?"

Hannah looked back at Diana, a mischievous glint in her eyes, "Well, I was making sure that no one would overhear us."

"Why are you so concerned about who will overhear us?" Diana stood with a huff.

"Well, I was going to say that Akko was going to swoon over you when she sees you in that suit, but if you don't care if she hears then I can go ahead and shout-"

"Okay, that's enough, Hannah," Barbara said, and Diana was thankful for the intervention.

Diana stepped out into the main area of the tent, where Amanda was lounging on the couch, in a black suit with a green vest of her own. Her hair was also slicked back. Though hers didn't have the intricate trimming that was on the collar of Diana's suit. The harp was also leaning against the couch, untouched.

"Well, well, Diana, I see that you kept up your end of the agreement." Amanda smirked and she stood from her seat.

"Are the others ready yet?" Diana said ignoring the jab Amanda made at her.

"Not yet, Lotte was helping Akko get ready, and Sucy, Conz, and Jas were are waiting for them to finish up." Amanda shrugged, "They told us to go ahead and wait for them at the barn." Amanda was about to walk to the tent flap.

"Wait," Diana said. She walked over and picked up the harp, "We might need this."

"Cav, I hate to break it to you, but that thing is a little big to carry around at a party," Amanda said.

Diana huffed, and drew her wand from her sash and transfigured the harp into a pin.

"Here," she said as she held the pin out, "now it's easier to carry. If we do need it, we'll have it on hand."

Amanda took it and inspected it and pinned it to her suit jacket. In the distance of the barn, they could hear the music coming from the party.

"I guess we should go and wait for the others there," Amanda said gesturing to the barn. Diana gave one last glance back, before nodding. They walked out the tent flap, and Diana bid hello to Odin who sat outside.

The barn was lit up with small twinkle lights that looked like actual pixies. The dance floor was filled with Amanda's relatives dancing to old classic rock music. At the end of the barn was an impromptu stage set up with an ancient looking chest sitting in the middle of it. Nessa O'Neill sat off to the side, sharing a drink with Amanda's father. This had been one of the more livelier parties Diana had been to and she sipped her punch.

"I can't believe that you made me agree to wear a suit," Diana said, giving Amanda a sideways glare. Amanda almost choked on the punch she was throwing back.

"Hey, I couldn't be the only one," Amanda said as she rolled her eyes, "besides, Akko never saw you in a suit before."

"I guess you're right about that." Diana took another sip of her punch, "I wonder how she'll react." She said that last part quietly to herself.

"Oh, there they are." Amanda pointed to the entrance.

Diana followed her finger and Hannah and Barbara walked in. They were followed by Constanze, Jasminka, Lotte and Sucy. Then the last one to enter was Akko. In that moment, Diana's heart started to race, and time seemed to slow as she took in the presence of the angel before her. Her sleeveless dress was the color of a cherry blossom that faded away into white at the bottom, there was a bit of a transparent white train attached to the back, that had small fabric cherry blossoms sewn into it. Her hair was braided into its usual half ponytail and woven into the braid were tiny little blossoms.

"Beautiful," Diana whispered. Akko caught her gaze and smiled shyly, a tint of red rising in her cheeks.

The group walked up to where the other two girls were waiting.

"Quite the party, eh?" Amanda gestured to the dancing.

"Yeah, I've never seen so many people before," Lotte said as she looked at the crowd.

"I wish they had different music though," Barbara said.

"Yeah, they should have played some more recent songs." Hannah nodded.

"I don't mind it actually," Lotte said as she adjusted her glasses, "I like the older music."

"I'm going to go see if I can sneak something into the punch," Sucy said as she started to slink off.

"Sucy, no." Lotte followed after her as they headed to the food table. The green team followed after them hoping to see what mischief would be caused. Two of Amanda's cousins came up and asked Hannah and Barbara to dance. As they were taken to the dance floor, Diana and Akko were left by themselves. Diana looked over at Akko, who seemed uncharacteristically quiet. Diana gulped her nervousness down.

"It looks beautiful doesn't it? The party, I mean," Diana clutched her fists, attempting to stop herself from shaking.

"Yeah," Akko said, "It's amazing. It kind of reminds me of a Disney movie or something." Her eyes were bright and excited, and her smile was wide. The old song in the background amplified the moment even more, and Diana stood, entranced.

The current song ended and everyone cheered, some more drunken than others. Suddenly the yellow glow of the lights dimmed to a soft blue, and the barn looked like it was bathed in the moonlight from outside.

One of Amanda's relatives at the DJ table grabbed the microphone.

"Ight, everyone, it's that special time of night. Grab that special someone and head to the dance floor," he said and a slow piano melody started to play. All of the older married couples started to head to the dance floor. Hannah and Barbara were already there, dancing with Amanda's cousins. Diana had recognized the song and smiled. She looked over at Akko who was looking around at the transformed barn.

"Would you like to dance?" She held out her hand for the other girl to take.

Akko turned to Diana and looked at Diana's outstretched hand, and slowly reached her hand out to take it, "Yeah, I would."

Diana led her out onto the dance floor just as the lyrics started to be sung. The two faced each other, the piano and the singer's voice casting a spell on them both.

_"It took a lifetime to find you,_

_ And now I want you to stay…"_

Akko placed her hand onto Diana's shoulder, her eyes soft like the embers of a dying fire. Her smile was soft, a smile Diana had never seen her wear, and her heart started to flutter. Diana placed her hand around Akko's waist, and started to sway to the music, and not once did she take her eyes off Akko's. Both of their palms were sweaty, but Diana wasn't sure whose palms were sweatier, but she didn't pay heed to that. She was intoxicated by the flowery scent of Akko's perfume, and she didn't mind it when Akko stepped on her toes.

"I'm sorry," Akko said, looking down avoiding Diana's gaze, "I'm not a very good dancer."

"It's alright, Akko, I don't mind at all." Diana pulled Akko closer into her embrace and started to sing the words of the song into her ear, "_When you are there, just to know you care, brightens up a starless night."_

Akko stepped back and looked at Diana with wide surprised eyes, "You know this song?"

Diana nodded, with a soft smile of her own, "My mother had this album in her collection." Akko's eyes were shining like the stars were gathered in her eyes and Diana's heart beated in tune with the drum beats of the start of the chorus. Akko stepped back into Diana's embrace.

"_Your smile, your smile, makes it all worth while,"_ Diana whisper sang the words into Akko's ear, "_Then you changed it around. Don't let your little baby down. You were the only one, thought I had you on the run,"_ Akko laid her head onto Diana's chest, and Diana held her even closer, "_But now I guess it's me, begging you, begging you…"_ Akko looked back up into Diana's eyes as she led them into a twirl. Akko stumbled a couple times, but Diana steadied her, and they continued to match the pace of the song's spell that had slightly increased its pace. At one point Diana had picked Akko up and briefly spun her around before setting her back on the ground, smiles never leaving their faces.

The chorus started to repeat itself, and Akko spoke up, "Diana?"

"Yes, Akko?" Diana said, unaware that she was starting to lean forward.

Akko took her hand out of Diana's and adjusted her arms so that they were resting around Diana's neck.

"I," Akko started to say, the strums of the electric guitar coming to a crescendo, "I, really… you're really, gosh. I just want to say, I really want to." All the while, their noses started to brush together, none of them daring to move. Diana was lost in the warm embers that were Akko's eyes and Akko's perfume was getting stronger.

"Want to what?" Diana whispered, very aware of what was about to happen. "If you're afraid, please don't be. You always leap into the fray unafraid of what you face. Please don't be afraid of what you're going to do now." She could feel Akko trembling beneath her fingertips, though she wasn't doing much better as her heart was about to leap out of her throat, "You don't have to if you're not ready to."

"No, I want to. I'm just nervous," Akko said, her voice a whisper.

"It's okay," Diana whispered back, "it's okay."

"I like you, Diana," Akko said, a tear starting to stream down her face, "I want to show you just how much."

"I like you too, Akko." Diana wiped away the stray tear, her hand caressing Akko's cheek.

Akko closed her eyes, and Diana followed. She could feel Akko's warm breath teasing her lips as the music started to fade.

"Can I have your attention please?" Nessa O'Neill's rang out over the crowd, causing Diana and Akko to jump back to reality. They exchanged a glance and stepped apart, though that didn't stop the heat rising into their cheeks. They looked around, and everyone was focusing their attention on the stage. There, Nessa O'Neill stood proudly, staff in hand in front of the ancient chest. "The moon has reached the correct position in the sky, and it is now time for the main event." She stepped aside and with a wave of her staff, the iron clasps snapped against the wood and the box creaked open.

"All of the members of the O'Neil clan between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, please step forward," Nessa said. Out of the chest arose two wolf skins. There was a murmur among the younger members of Amanda's family. Diana and Akko scanned the crowd for Amanda, and they spotted her with the rest of the green team by the food table. They saw her say a few words to Constanze and Jasminka before she walked to the foot of the stage with the rest of her family.

"This doesn't look good," Akko said as she stared at the stage.

"No. It doesn't." Diana narrowed her eyes.

"There you two are." Lotte and Sucy were making their way through the crowd to get to them. Hannah and Barbara were not too far behind. Once they were all together, they turned their attention back to the stage.

"I'm sure you're curious about these wolf skins, young ones," Nessa said, gesturing to the hovering skins. "Many hundreds of years ago, during the time before the Golden Age of magic, the goddess Epona traveled through a weary Ireland that was in need of protectors. She came across the young Laignech Fáelad, the ancestor of our humble clan. He was a strong warrior and had the courageous heart she saw fit for a protector. She bestowed a gift upon him and his wife, these two wolf skins you see here now. They protected the land for seven years as wolves, and when the seven years were up, they passed on the job onto their children who had grown. It has been our job ever since to protect the land we call home. Now it is your job for two of you to carry on this tradition. One boy and one girl shall be chosen to be the protectors of Ireland for the next seven years."


End file.
